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ILOTOrig FMEILIFlo 



HISTORY 



EEVOLUTIOKS 11 EUROPE, 



JfROM 



THE SUBVERSIOxN OF TIIE RODMAN EMPIRE IN THE WEST, TO THE 
CONGRESS OF VIENNA, 



THE FRENCH Ot^ 'E;SSiafi)PHER WILLIAM ' KOCH; 



4*»i. «(Hli>* 



■n-iTH A 



CONTINUATION TO TIIE YEAH 1815, 



y 



HY M. SUHCELL, /. 

I 



\ 



TO WHICH IS ADDED 



f H 7'' 



A SKETCH Of TUt; LATK REVOI.UTIOXS IN GREECE, PObAKD, HELGIUM, AND 

FRANCE, ;l-330'.) 

BY J. PARRETT, M. D. 

WITH A CO.VPnEUENSIVl! ACCOUKT OF TIIE RKVOLfTIOfiS IS 

FRANCE. ITALYv AND THE GERMAN STATES IN 

IS-JS. 



(SmbcllidiC'r iDitl) €nciraDings, 



HARTFORD: 
PUBLISHED BY EDWIN HUNT. 

1849. 



THE LIBRARY 
or CONGRESS 



"I 



WASHIWOTOHI 



Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1843, 

By EDWIN HUNT, 

in the Clerk's Office of the District Court for the District of Connecticut. 






CONTENTS, 



rage. 

Publisher's Notice, 5 

Author's Preface, 7 

Life of Koch, 13 

CHAPTER I. 
Introduction, 17 

CHAFER II.— PERIOD I. 

From the invasion of the Roman Empire in the West, by the Bar- 
barians, to the time of Charlemagne, A. D. 406 — 800, ... 41 

CHAPTER III.— PERIOD II. 
From Charlemagne to Otto the Great, A. D. 800—962, .... 63 

CHAPTER IV.— PERIOD III. 
From Otto the Great to Gregory the Great, A. D. 962—1074, . , 79 

CHAPTER v.— PERIOD IV. 
From Pope Gregory VIII. to Boniface VIIL, A. D. 1074—1300, 101 

CHAPTER VI.— PERIOD V. 

From Pope Boniface VIII. to the taking of Constantinople by the 

Turks, A. D. 1300—1453, 165 

CHAPTER VII.— PERIOD VI. 

From the taking of Constantinople by the Turks, to the peace of 
Westphalia, A. D., 1453—1648, 207 



IV CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER Vlir.— PERIOD VII. 

From the Peace of Westphalia to that of Utrecht, A. D., 
1648—1713 281 

CHAPTER IX.— PERIOD VIII. 

From the Peace of Utrecht to the French Revolution, A. D., 1713 

—1789, 335 

CHAPTER X.— PERIOD IX. 

From the commencement of the French Revolution to the downfall 

of Buonaparte, A. 1)., 1789—1815, 418 

CHAPTER XI: 

The Military Predominance of France, under the sway of Napo- 
leon Buonaparte, A. D. 1802—1810, 476 

CHAPTER XII: 

The decline and downfall of the Empire of Buonaparte, A- D., 

1810—1815, • . . 536 

APPENDIX: 

France from the second Restoration of the Bourbons, A. D., 1815, 
including the Revolution of July, 1830, to the Revolution of 

February, 1848, .581 

Revolution in Belgium, A. D. 1830, 607 

Revolution in Poland, A. D. 1830, 608 

Revolution in Greece, A. D. 1821 — 1827, 619 

War between Russia and Turkey, A. D. 1828 — 1829, .... 638 

England, from A. D. 1816 to A. D. 1848, 642 

French Revolution of February, 1848, 661 

Revolutions in Germany, A. D. 1848, 698 

Revolutions in Italy, A. D. 1848, 710 



PUBLISHER'S NOTICE. 



The Publisher of the present edition of Koch's Revolutions, 
has been induced to prepare this work for publication on account 
of the very high reputation which it has in Europe, and its 
general adoption there in Literary Institutions, as the outline of 
instruction in the portion of History which it embraces. Its 
high merit would no doubt have obtained for it an earlier reprint 
from the American press, but for the errors with which the 
English translation abounds. These defects, it is hoped, will 
not be found in the present edition, which has been revised by 
a gentleman who has endeavored not only to correct the faults 
of language, but also to strike from its pages all expressions of 
principles inconsistent with the liberal spirit of philosophical 
history. 

A practical acquaintance with the work as a Manual of His- 
tory, has convinced this gentleman of its admirable adaptation to 
this purpose, and enabled him to recommend it for its fidelity, 
impartiality, conciseness, clear argument, enlightened spirit, and 
learned research. Omitting no important event, and dwelling 
very fully upon those which have had great influence in pro- 
ducing the permanent changes which the civilized world has 



vi publisher's notice. 

undergone in the last fifteen centuries, it may almost claim, he 
thinks, the united advantages of a compendious and an elaborate 
History. 

In order perfectly to adapt the work to the present time, a 
sketch of the Revolutions in France, Belgium, Poland, and 
Greece, which occurred in 1830 ; also a narrative of the recent 
events in Great Britain, of the French Revolution of February, 
1848, and the Revolutions which have recently occurred in Ger- 
many and Italy, have been prepared with much labor and care, 
and added to the present edition, making it the most complete 
historical work on Modern Europe yet offered to the public. 

In full confidence that it will be found deserving of the high 
character it has sustained abroad, as a valuable and faithful 
guide to a knowledge of the History of Modern Europe it is 
now offered to the patronage of the friends of Useful Knowledge, 

by 

THE AMERICAN PUBLISHER. 



AUTHOR'S PREFACE. 



The work here presented to the pubhc, is a summary of the Revo- 
lutions, both general and particular, which have happened in Europe 
since the extinction of the Roman Empire, in the fifth century. As 
an elementary book, it will be found useful to those who wish to have 
a concise and general view of the successive revolutions that have 
changed the aspect of states and kingdoms, and given birth to the 
existing pohcy and established order of society in modern times. 

Without some preliminary acquaintance with the annals of these 
revolutions, we can neither study the history of our own country to 
advantage, nor appreciate the influence which the different states, 
formed from the wreck of the ancient Roman Empire, reciprocally 
exercised on each other. Allied, as it were, by the geographical po- 
sition of their territories, by a conformity in their rehgion, language, 
and manners, these states contracted new attachments in the ties of 
mutual interests, which the progress of civiUzation, commerce, and 
industry, tended more and more to cement and confirm. Many of 
them, whom fortune had elevated to the summit of power and pros- 
perity, carried their laws, their arts and institutions, both civil and 
military, far beyond the limits of their own dominions. The exten- 
sive sway which the Romish hierarchy held for nearly a thousand 
years over the greater part of the European kingdoms, is well known 
to every reader of history. 

This continuity of intercourse and relationship among the powers 
of Europe, became the means of forming them into a kind of repub- 



VIU PREFACE 

lican system ; it gave birth to a national law and conventional rights, 
founded on the agreement of treaties, and the usages of common 
practice. A laudable emulation sprung up among contemporary- 
states. Their jealousies, and even their competitions and divisions, 
contributed to the progress of civilization, and the attainment of that 
high state of perfection to which all human sciences and institutions 
have been carried by the nations of modern Europe. 

It is these political connections, this reciprocal influence of king- 
doms and their revolutions, and especially the varieties of system 
which Europe has experienced in the lapse of so many ages, that 
require to be developed in a general view, such as that which pro- 
fesses to be the object of the present work. 

The author has here remodeled his '' Views of the Revolutions of 
the Middle Ages," (published in 1790,) and extended or abridged 
the different periods according to circumstances. In continuing this 
work down to the present time, he has deemed necessary to conclude 
at the French Revolution, as the numerous results of that great 
event are too much involved in uncertainty to be clearly or impar- 
tially exhibited by contemporary writers.* 

The work is divided into eight periods of time,t according with 
the principal revolutions which have changed, in succession, the po- 
litical state of Europe. At the head of each period, is placed either 
the designation of its particular revolution, or that of the power or 
empire which held the ascendancy at the time. In limiting his 
treatise solely to his Revolutions of Europe, the writer has not 
touched upon those of Asia and the East, except in so far as they 
have had immediate influence on the destinies of Europe. Con- 
scious also that the distinguishing characteristic of an historian is 
veracity, and that the testimony of a writer who has not himself 
been an eye-witness of the events he records, cannot be relied on 



* In the edition of 1S23, from which the present translation is made, the Tableau has 
been continued by the Editor, M. Schoell. down to the 20th of November, 1815. 
t Nine in the last editions, including the continuation. 



PREFACE. IX 

with implicit confidence, the author has imposed on himself the inva- 
riable rule of citing, with scrupulous care, the principal authorities 
and vouchers of each period and country that have guided him 
during his researches, in selecting and examining his materials by 
the torch of patient criticism. Without this labor and precaution, 
the work would have been of no avail as an elementary help to those 
who were desirous of acquiring a more minute and soUd knowledge 
of history. 

As a useful and subsidiary accompaniment, an Introduction has 
been prefixed, in which are given some general remarks on history 
and geography, as also on genealogy and chronology, which may be 
regarded as auxiliary sciences. These preliminary notices are fol- 
lowed by a short outline of ancient history, down to the time of the 
Barbarian invasion in the fifth century. With this grand era the 
present work properly commences, when a new series of king- 
doms and governments sprung up in Europe. 



LIFE OF KOCH. 



Christopher William Koch, equally distinguished as a 
lawyer and a learned historian, was born on the 9th of May 1737 
at Bouxwiller, a small town in the seigniory of Lichtenberg in 
Alsace, which then belonged to the Prince of Hesse-Darmstadt. 
His father, who was a member of the Chamber of Finance 
under that prince, sent him to an excellent school in his native 
place, where he received the rudim.ents of his education. At 
the age of thirteen, he went to the Protestant University of 
Strasbourg, where he prosecuted his studies under the celebrated 
Schoepflin. Law was the profession to which he was destined; 
but he showed an early predilection for the study of history, 
and the sciences connected with it, such as Diplomatics, or the 
art of deciphering and verifying ancient writs and chartulnries, 
Genealogy, Chro7iology, &c. Sch<iepflin was not slow to appre- 
ciate the rising merit of his pupil, and wished to make him the 
companion of his labours. He admitted him to his friendship, 
and became the means of establishing him as his successor in 
that famous political academy, which his reputation had formed 
at Strasbourg, by attracting to that city the youth of the first 
families, and from all parts of Europe. Koch devoted much of 
his time to the Canon Law, and soon gave a proof of the pro- 
gress he had made in that branch of study, by the Academical 
Dissertation which he published in 1761, under the title of 
Co?nmentatio de Collatione dignitaUim et heneficiorum erxlesi- 
asticorum in imperio Romano- Germanico. This treatise was 
a prelude to his Commentary on the Pragmatic Sanction, 
which he published in 1789 — a work which excited an extra- 
ordinary sensation in Catholic Germany, and procured the 
author the favourable notice of such prelates as were most 
eminent for learning and piety. 

After taking his academic degree, Koch repaired to Paris ir. 
1762, where he staid a year ; honoured with the society of the 
most distinguished literati in the capital, and frequenting the 
Ro3''al Library, wholly occupied in those researches which pre- 
pared him for the learned labours in which he afterwards en- 
gaged. On his return to Strasbourg, he wrote the continua- 
tion of the Historla Zaringo-Badensis, of which the first volume 
only was drawn up by Schcepflin. All the others are entirely 
the work of Koch, though they bear the name of the master 
who had charged him with the execution of this task. Schcepflin 
bequeathed to the city of Strasbourg, in 1766, his valuable 



]4 



LIFE OF KOCH. 



library and his cabinet of antiques, on condition that Koch 
should be appointed keeper; which he was, in effect, on the 
death of the testator in 1771. He obtained, at the same time, 
the title of Professor, which authorized him to deliver lectures; 
for the chair of Schoepflin passed, according to the statutes of 
the University, to another professor, — a man of merit but inca- 
pable of supplying his place as an instructor of youth in the 
study of the political sciences. The pupils of Schoepflin were 
thus transferred to Koch, who became the head of that diplo- 
matic school, which, for sixty years, gave to the public so great 
a number of ministers and statesmen. 

In 1779 the Government of Hanover offered him the chair of 
public German Law in the University of Gottingen, which he 
declined. Next year the Emperor Josepeh II., who knew well 
how to distinguish merit, complimented him with the dignity 
of Knight of the Empire, an intermediate title between that of 
baron and the simple rank of noblesse. About the same period 
he obtained the chair of Public Law at Strasbourg, which he 
held until that University was suppressed at the French Revolu- 
tion. Towards the end of 1789, the Protestants of Alsace sent 
him as their envoy to Paris, to solicit from the King and the 
Constitutional Assembly, the maintenance of their civil and re- 
ligious rights, according to the faith of former treaties. He 
succeeded in obtaining for them the decree of the 17th of 
August 1790, which sanctioned these rights, and declared that 
the ecclesiastical benefices of the Protestants were not included 
among those which the decree of the 1st of November prece- 
ding, had placed at the disposal of the nation. The former 
decree was moreover extended and explained by an act, bearing 
dale December 1st 1790. Both of these were approved and 
ratified by the King. 

Meantime, the terrors and turbulence of the Revolution had 
dispersed from Strasbourg that brilliant assemblage of youth, 
which the reputation of the professors, and the natural beauties 
of the place, had attracted from all quarters. These disastrous 
events interrupted the career of Koch, at a lime when he was 
capable of rendering the most important services to his country. 
From- that moment he devoted himself to public affairs. Being 
appointed a Member of the first Legislative Assembly, he op- 
posed the faction which convulsed the nation, and ultimately 
subverted the throne. When President of the Committee of 
that Assembly, he exerted himself for the maintenance of peace ; 
and, in a Report which he made in 1792, he foretold the cala- 
mities which would overwhelm France, if war should be 
declared against Austria The republican faction, by their 



LIFE OF KOCH. 15 

clamours, silenced the remonstrances of Koch, when, on the 
20th of April, he spoke in opposition to a measure which proved 
so fatal to France, An official letter which he addressed, 10th 
of August, to the constituted authorities of the Lower Rhine, 
sufficiently expressed the horror with which that day's proceed- 
ings had inspired him. He procured, moreover, the concurrence 
of his fellow-citizens in a resistance, which he had then some 
reason to hope would be made a common cause by the other 
provinces. This letter drew down upon him the persecution 
of the ruling party. He was immured in a prison, where he 
languished for eleven months, and from which he had no pros- 
pect of escape, except to mount the scafibld. The revolution 
of the 9th Thermidor restored him to liberty, when he was ap- 
pointed, by the voice of his fellow-citizens, to the Directory of 
their provincial department. He endeavoured by all means in 
his power to defeat the measures that were taken to injure his 
constituents ; and had influence enough, it is said, to prevent 
the sale of the funds belonging to manufactories and hospitals. 
He then resumed with pleasure those functions which he had 
unwillingly accepted ; in 1795, he recommenced his professorship 
of public law, and returned with new zeal to his literary labours, 
which had been too long interrupted. Six years he spent in 
these useful occupations ; from which, however, he was once 
more detached by a decree of the Senate, which nominated him 
a member of the Tribunal. This nomination Koch accepted, 
in the hope of being useful to his Protestant countrymen, and 
to the city of Strasbourg, in obtaining the re-establishment of 
the reformed religion, and its restoration in the University. 
He did, in effect, exert himself much in behalf of religion, ac- 
cordinQ- to the confession of Aug-sburg, as well as of the Pro- 
testant Academy at Strasbourg, which was suppressed at this 
period. 

The Tribunal having been suppressed, Koch declined all places 
of trust or honour which were offered him ; and only requested 
permission to retire, that he might have a short interval for him- 
self between business and the grave. A pension of 3000 francs 
was granted him, without any solicitation on his part. In 1808, 
he returned to Strasbourg, where he continued to devote him- 
self to letters, and in administering to the public good. About 
the end of 1810, the Grand-master of the University of Franci'^ 
conferred on him the title of Honorary Rector of the Academy 
of Strasbourg. His health, which had been prolonged by a life 
of great temperance and regularity and the peace which results 
from a good conscience- became disordered in 1812, when he 
fell into a slate of languor, which terminated his life on the 25th 



16 LIFE OF KOCH. 

of October 1813. His colleagues, the professors of Strasbourg, 
ejected to his memory a monument of white marble in the 
church of St. Thomas, near those of Schcepflin and Oberlin ; 
which was executed by M. Ohnmacht, an eminent sculptor in 
Strasbourg. One of his biographers has pronounced the fol- 
lowing eulogium on Koch : — "A noble regard for justice and 
truth, a penetration beyond common, a diligence unrivalled in 
historical researches, a remarkable talent in arranging and illus- 
trating his subject, an incorruptible integrity of principle, and 
unclouded serenity of mind, with a zealous desire of rendering 
his researches, his information and activity, useful to his species 
— these were the prominent features of the mind and character 
of this amiable man." In addition to this, it has been remarked, 
that although Professor Koch had not the art of a graceful or 
even a fluent elocution, no man ever possessed in a higher de- 
gree the talents and qualifications of a public instructor. Like 
Socrates, he had a manner peculiar to himself. He was not so 
much a teacher of sciences, as of the means of acquiringthem. 
He could inspire his scholars with a taste for labour, and knew 
how to call forth their several powers and dispositions. Though 
a man of the most domestic habits, and a lover of children, Koch 
never married. 

Two lives of this celebrated professor have been written by 
foreigners. The one is by M. Schweighaeuser junior, a profes- 
sor at Strasbourg; and the other is prefixed to the new edition 
of the Histoire des Traites de Paix, by M. Schoell, the editor 
and continuator of several of our author's works. This latter 
biographer has accompanied his sketch with a descriptive cata- 
logue of all Koch's works, the principal of which are the fol- 
lowing : — 1. Tables Genealogigues des Maisojis Souveraines du 
Midi et de rOuest de I'Europe. 2. Sanctio Pragmatica Ger- 
manorum illustrata. 3. Abrege de VHistoire des Traites de 
Paix entre les Puissances de VEiirope. A new edition of this 
work appeared in 1818, enlarged and continued by M. Schcell 
down to the Congress of Vienna and the Treaty of Paris, 1815, 
4. Table des Traites entre la France et les Puissances Etraji- 
geres, depuis la Paix de WestpkaJit, <f-c. 5. Tableau des Revo- 
lutio?is de I'Europe, ^c. 6. Tables Genealogigues des Maisons 
Souveraines de VEst et du Nord de VEvrope. This work was 
published, after the author's death, by M. Schoell. Besides 
ihepe, Koch left various manuscripts, containing memoirs of his 
own life ; and several valuable papers on the ancient ecclesias- 
tical history and literature of his native province. 

A. C. 



CHAPTER I 



INTRODUCTION. 



History has vBry properly been considered as that particular 
branch of philosophy, which teaches, by examples, how men 
ought to conduct themselves in all situations of life, both pub- 
lic and private. Such is the infirmity and incapacity of the 
human mind, that abstract or general ideas make no lasting 
impression on it ; and often appear to us doubtful or obscure, — 
at least if they be not illustrated and confirmed by experience 
and observation. 

It is from history alone, which superadds to our own expe- 
rience that of other men and of other times, that we learn to 
conquer the prejudices which we have imbibed from education, 
and which our own experience, often as contracted as our edu- 
cation, tends in general rather to strengthen than to subdue or 
destroy. " Not to know," says Cicero, " what happened before 
we were born, is to remain always a child ; for what were the 
life of man, did we not combine present events with the recol- 
lections of past ages ?" 

There are certain principles or rules of conduct that hold 
true in all cases ; because they accord and consist with the in- 
variable nature of things. To collect and digest these, belongs 
to the student of history, who may, in this way, easily form to 
himself a system, both of morals and politics, founded on the 
combined judgment of all ages, and confirmed by universal ex- 
perience. Moreover, the advantages that we reap from the 
study of history are preferable to those we acquire bj' our own 
experience ; for not only does the knowledge we derive from 
this kind of study embrace a greater number of objects, but il 
is purchased at the expense of others, while the attainments we 
make from personal experience often cost us extremely dear. 

" We may learn wisdom," says Polybius, " either from out 
own misfortunes, or the misfortunes of others. The knowledge,' 
adds that celebrated historian, " which we acquire at our own 
expense, is undoubtedly the most efficacious ; but that which we 
learn from the misfortunes of others is the safest, in as much 
as we receive instruction without pain, or danger to ourselves." 
This knowledge has also the advantage of being in general 
more accurate, and more complete than that which we derive 
from individual experience. To history alone it belongs to 
judge with impartiality of public characters and political mea- 

2 



18 CHAPTER 1. 

sures, which are often either misunderstood or not properly ap- 
preciated by their contemporaries ; and while men individually, 
and from their own observation, can see great events as it were 
but in part, history embraces the whole in all its various details. 
Thus, for example, we can see but imperfectly all the bearings 
of that mighty revolution which is now 1793, passing before 
our eyes ; and it will remain for posterity to perceive all its 
influence and effects, and to judge of its different actors with- 
out feelings of irritation or party spirit. 

It is a fact universally admitted, that all ranks and profes- 
sions of men, find in history appropriate instruction, and rules 
of conduct suited to their respective conditions. In occupying 
the mind agreeably with such a vast diversity of subjects, it 
serves to form the judgment, to inspire us with the ambition of 
glory, and the love of virtue. Those especially who devote 
themselves to the study of politics, or who are destined to the 
management of public affairs, will discover in history the struc- 
ture and constitution of governments, their faults, and their 
advantages, their strength and their weakness ; they will find 
there the origin and progress of empires, the principles that 
have raised them to greatness, and the causes which have pre- 
pared their fall. The philosopher, and the man of letters, will 
there trace the progress of the human mind, the errors and il- 
lusions that have led it astray ; the connexion of causes and 
effects ; the origin of arts and sciences, their changes, and their 
influence on society ; as well as the innumerable evils that 
have sprung from ignorance, superstition and tyranny. 

History, in short, avails more than all precepts to cure us of 
those mistakes originating in self-love, and national partiality. 
He who knows no other country than his own, easily persuades 
nimself, that the government, manners, and opinions of the lit- 
tle corner of the earth which he inhabits, are the only ones con- 
sistent with reason and propriety. Self-love, so natural to man, 
cherishes this prejudice, and makes him disdain all other na- 
tions. It is only by an extensive acquaintance with history, 
and by familiarizing ourselves with the institutions, customs, 
and habits of different ages, and of different countries, that we 
learn to esteem wisdom and virtue, and to acknowledge ta- 
lents wherever they exist. Besides, when we observe, tha* 
though revolutions are continually changing the face of king- 
doms, nothing essentially new ever happens in the world, we 
cease to be longer the slaves of that extravagant admiration, 
and that credulous astonishment which is generally the charac- 
teristic of ignorance, or the mark of a feeble mind. 

The most important attribute of history is truth, and in order 



INTRODUCTION. 19 

to find this out, it is necessary to examine the materials which 
serve as the elements and evidences of history, by the test of 
sound criticism. These materials are of two kinds : I. Puhlic 
Acts and Records, such as medals, inscriptions, treaties, char- 
ters, official papers ; and in general, all writings drawn up or 
published by the established authorities. II, Private writers^ 
viz. authors of histories, of chronicles, memoirs, letters, &c. 
These writers are either contemporary, or such as live remote 
from the times of which they write. 

Public acts and official records, are the strongest evidences 
we can possibly have of historical truth ; but as, in different 
ages, there have been fabricators of pretended acts and wri- 
tings, it becomes necessary, before making use of any public 
document, to be assured that it is neither spurious nor falsified. 
The art of judging of ancient charters or diplomas, and discri- 
minating the true from the false, is called Diplomatics;^ in 
the same way as we give the name oi Numismatics to the art of 
distinguishing real medals from counterfeit. Both of these 
sciences are necessary in the criticism of history. 

It will not be out of place to subjoin here some rules that 
may serve as guides in the proper selection of historical docu- 
ments. 

1. The authority of any chartulary or public act is preferable 
to that of a private writer, even though he were contemporary. 
These public registers it is always necessary to consult, if pos- 
sible, before having recourse to the authority of private writers ; 
and a history that is not supported by such public vouchers must 
in consequence be very imperfect. 

2. When public acts are found to accord with the testimony 
of contemporary authors, there results a complete and decisive 
proof, the most satisfactory that can be desired, for establishing 
the truth of historical facts. 

3. The testimony of a contemporary author ought generally 
to be preferred to that of an historian, who has written long 
after the period in which the events have happened, 

4. Whenever contemporary writers are defective, great cau- 
tion must be used with regard to the statements of more mo- 
dern historians, whose narratives are often very inaccurate, or 
altogether fabulous, 

5. The unanimous silence of contemporary authors on any 
memorable event, is of itself a strong presumption for suspect- 
ing, or even for entirely rejecting, the testimony of very recent 
WT iters. 

6. Historians who narrate events that have happened ante- 
rior to the times in which they lived, do not, properly speaking, 



20 CHAPTER I. 

deserve credit, except in so far as they make us acquainted with 
the sources whence they have drawn their information. 

7. In order to judge of the respective merits of historians, 
and the preference we ought to give some beyond others, it is 
necessary to examine the spirit and character of each, as well 
as the circumstances in which they are placed at the time of 
writing. 

Hence it follows : — That we ought to distrust an historian 
who is deficient in critical discernment, who is fond of fables, 
or who scruples not, in order to please and amuse his readers, 
to alter or disguise the truth : That as impartiality is an essen- 
tial quality in a historian, we must always be on our guard 
against writers who allow their minds to be warped aside by 
the prejudices of their nation, their party, or their profession ; 
for, in order to be impartial, the historian must form his judg- 
ment on actions themselves, without regard to the actors : That 
historians who have had a personal concern in the transactions, 
or been eyewitnesses of the events they describe, or who, wri- 
ting by the permission or authority of government, have had 
free access to national archives and public libraries, ought al- 
ways to be preferred to those who have not enjoyed the same 
advantages : That among modern historians, he who has writ- 
ten last often deserves more confidence than those who have 
handled the same subject before him ; inasmuch as he has had 
it in his power to obtain more exact information, to avoid all 
party spirit, and rectify the errors of his predecessors. 

There are several auxiliary sciences which may be said to 
constitute the very foundation of history ; and among these, geo- 
graphy, genealogy, and chronology, hold the first rank. In 
truth, no fact can be fully established, nor can any narrative 
possess interest, unless the circumstances relating to the times 
and places in which the events have happened, as well as to 
the persons who have been concerned in them, be previously 
made known, and distinctly explained. It is obvious, therefore, 
that geography, genealogy, and chronology, are the faithful in- 
terpreters and inseparable companions of history. 

Geography may be divided into mathematical, physical, and 
political ; according to the different objects which it embraces. 
Mathematical geography regards the earth, considered as a 
measurable body. Physical geography has for its object to 
examine the natural or physical structure of the earth ; while 
political geography illustrates the different divisions of the earth 
which men have invented, such as kingdoms, states, and pro- 
vinces. This science is also divided, relatively to the times of 
which it treats, into ancient middle-age, and modern geography 



INTRODUCTION. 21 

Ancient geography is that which explains the primitive state of 
the world, and its political divisions prior to the subversion ot 
ihe Roman Empire in the west. By the geography of the middle 
ages, is understood that which acquaints us with the political 
state of the nations who figured in history from the fifth century 
to the end of the fifteenth, or the beginning of the sixteenth. 
Modern geography represents to us the state of the world and 
iis political divi<sions, from the sixteenth century to the present 
time. 

Antiquity has handed down to us the works of several very 
eminent geographers, the most celebrated of whom are Strabo, 
Ptolemy, Pomponius Mela, Pausanias, and Stephanus of Byzan- 
tium. Among the moderns who have laboured in this depart- 
ment of geography, those more particularly deserving of notice, 
areCluverius,Cellarius,Briet,D'Anville, Gosselin, Mannert, and 
Ukert. 

The geography of the middle ages is but little known ; and 
remains yet a sort of desert which demands cultivation. There 
does not exist a single geographical work which gives a correct 
representation of that new order of things, which the German 
nations introduced into Europe after the downfall of the Roman 
Empire in the fifth century. The literati of France and Ger- 
many have thrown some rays of light on certain parts of these 
obscure regions ; but no nation in Europe can yet boast of having 
thoroughly explored them. 

Of modern authors, the most conspicuous as th6 restorer of 
geographical science, is Sebastian Munster, a German, who 
published a voluminous work on cosmography, towards the 
middle of the sixteenth century. The Flemings and the Dutch 
have been among the earliest cultivators of geography since 
the revival of letters. Ortelius, Gerard Mercator, Varenius, 
Janson, Bleau, and Fischer, are well known by the maps and 
learned works which they have produced. 

Among the number of celebrated French geographers are to 
be reckoned Sanson, Delisle, Cassini, D'Anville ; and more 
recently Zannoni, Bauche, Mentelle, Barbie du Bocage, Malte- 
Brun, &;c. Delisle is the first who submitted geography to the 
touchstone of astronomical observation. Biisching, a German, 
wrote a work on geography, which has been translated into 
several languages, and has received various additions and 
improvements, especially in the hands of the French transla- 
tors. M. Ritter, a professor at Berlin, published a work in 
which he gives a new and scientific form to geography. 

It was during the latter half of the eighteenth century, that 
the attention of the learned was turned more particularly towards 



I ! 



22 CHAPTER I. 

geography, when a series of the most elegant maps appeared in 
all the principal states of Europe, The wars that sprung from 
the revolution encouraged several engineers and geographers, 
both foreigners and Frenchmen, to publish those masterpieces 
of their art, the charts and plans of the countries that had served 
as the theatre of hostilities. 

Connected with geography is the science of Statistics, or the 
study of the constitution and political economy of states. Two 
Italians, Sansovino and Botero, about the end of the sixteenth 
century, were the first that attempted to treat this as a particular 
science, separate and distinct from geography. The Germans 
followed nearly in the footsteps of the Italian writers ,' they 
introduced statistics into their Universities as a branch of study, 
and gave it also the name by which it is still known. ^ It was 
chiefly, however, during the course of the eighteenth century 
that the governments of Europe encouraged the study of this 
new science, which borrows its illustrations from history, and 
constitutes at present an essential branch of national polity. 

Genealogy, or the science which treats of the origin and 
descent of illustrious families, is not less important to the 
knowledge of history, than geography. It teaches us to know 
and distinguish the principal characters that have acted a con- 
spicuous part on the theatre of the world ; and by giving us 
clear and explicit ideas of the ties of relationship that subsist 
among sovereigns, it enables us to investigate the rights of 
succession, and the respective claims of rival princes. 

The study of Genealogy is full of difficulties, on account of 
the uncertainty and fabulous obscurity in which the origin of 
almost every great family is enveloped. Vanity, aided by flattery, 
has given birth to a thousand legendary wonders, that fall to 
pieces at the touch of sound criticism. It is by the light of this 
science that we learn to distinguish certainties from probabilities, 
and probabilities from fables and conjectures. Few families 
who have occupied the thrones of former dynasties, or who now 
hold pre-eminent rank in Europe, can trace their genealogy 
beyond the twelfth century. The House of Capet is the only 
one that can boast of a pedigree that reaches back to the middle 
of the ninth century. The origin of the royal families of 
Savoy, Lorrain, Brunswick, England, and Baden, belongs to the 
eleventh century ; all the others are of a date posterior to these, 

A single fact in diplomatics has proved sufficient to discredit 
a multitude of errors and fables, that tradition had engrafted 
on the legends of the dark ages. From the examinations that 
have been made of ancient charters and records, there is abun- 
dant evidence that, prior to the twelfth century, among families 



INTRODUCTION. 



2a 



even the most illustrious, the distinction of surnames was un- 
known. The greatest noblemen, and the presumption is much 
stronger that common gentlemen, never used any other signa- 
ture than their baptismal name ; to which they sometimes an- 
nexed that of the dignity or order with which they were invested. 
There was therefore little chance of distinguishing families 
from each other, and still less of distinguishing individuals of 
one and the same family. It was only towards the end of the 
eleventh century, and during the era of the crusades, that the use 
of family names was gradually introduced; and that they began, 
in their public transactions, to superadd to their baptismal and 
honorary names, that of the country or territory they possessed, 
or the castle where they had their residence ; and it must have 
required nearly two hundred years before this practice became 
general in Europe. 

The Germans were the first, after the Reformation, who 
combined the study of genealogy with that of history. Among 
their most distinguished genealogists may be mentioned Rein- 
erus Reineccius, Jerome Henninges, Elias Reusner, Nicolas 
Rittershusius, James- William Imhof, and the two Gebhards of 
Luneburg, father and son. The work of Henninges is much 
sought after, on account of its rarity ; but the genealogical 
labours of the two Gebhards are particularly remarkable for the 
profound and accurate criticism they display. The principal 
writers on this subject among the French are, D'Hozier, Gode- 
froy, Andrew Duchesne, St. Marthe, Father Anselme, Chazot de 
Nantigny, and M. de St. AUais. 

Chronology, or the science of computing time, represents 
facts or events in the order in which they have occurred. The 
historian ought by no means to neglect to ascertain, as nearly 
as possible, the exact and precise date of events ; since, without 
this knowledge, he will be perpetually liable to commit anachro- 
nisms, to confound things with persons, and often to mistake 
effects for causes, or causes for effects. 

This study is not without its difficulties, which are as perplex- 
ing as they are singularly various, both in kind and degree. 
These embarrassments relate chiefly, 1. To the age of the 
world ; 2. The different forms of the year ; 3. The number of 
years that elapsed from the creation to the birth of Christ ; 4. 
The variety of epochs or periods of reckoning time. 

Many of the ancient philosophers maintained that the world 
was eternal. Ocellus Lucanus, a Greek philosopher of the Py- 
thagorean sect, attempted to prove this hypothesis, in a treatise 
entitled De Universo, which the Marquis D'Argens and the 
Abbe Batteux have translated into French. Aristotle followed 



24 CHAPTER I. 

in the footsteps of Ocellus. His opinion as to the eternity of 
the universe, is detailed at length in his commentaries on Physics. 

Some modern philosophers, as Buffori, Hamilton, Dolomieu, 
Saussure, Faujas de St. Fond, &c. have assigned to our globe 
an existence long anterior to the ages when history commences. 
Their reasoning they support by the conformation of the globe 
itself, as well as the time that must have necessarily elapsed 
before the earth, in the progressive operations of nature, could 
be rendered a suitable habitation for man. 

The most ancient account that we have of the origin of the 
world, and of the human race, is derived from Moses. This 
leader and lawgiver of the Jewish nation, lived about 1500 years 
before Christ ; and nearly 1000 before Herodotus, the most an- 
cient profane author whose works have been handed down to 
our limes. According to Moses and the Jewish annals, the 
history of the human race does not yet comprehend a period of 
six thousand years. This account seems to be in opposition to 
that of several ancient nations, such as the Egyptians, Indians, 
Chaldeans, Thibetians, and Chinese, who carry back their chro- 
nology to a very remote date, and far beyond what Moses has 
assigned to the human race. But it is sufficient at present to 
remark, that this high antiquity, which vanity has led these na- 
tions to adopt as a reality, is either altogether imaginary, or 
purely mythological, founded on a symbolical theology, whose 
mysteries and allegories have been but little understood. This 
primeval epoch is usually filled with gods and demigods, who 
are alleged to have reigned over these nations for so many my- 
riads of years. 

Traditions so fabulous and chimerical will never destroy the 
authenticity of Moses, who independently of his nativity, and 
the remote age in which he lived, merits implicit credit from 
the simplicity of his narrative, and from the circumstance, that 
there has never yet been discovered on the surface, or in the 
internal structure of the earth, any organic evidence or work of 
human art, that can lead us to believe that the history of the 
world, or more properly speaking, of the human race, is ante- 
cedent to the age which the Jewish legislator has assigned it. 

With regard to the division of time, a considerable period 
must, no doubt, have elapsed before men began to reckon by 
years, calculated according to astronomical observations. Two 
sorts or forms of computation have been successively in use 
among different nations. Some have employed solar years, cal- 
culated by the annual course of the sun ; others have made use 
of lunar years, calculated by the periodical revolutions of the 
moon. All Christian nations of the present day adopt the solar 



INTRODUCTION. , SO i 

year; while the lunar calculation is that followed by the Ma- j 
hometans. The solar year consists of 365 days, 5 hours, 48', ! 
45", 30'" : the lunar year, of 354 days, 3 hours, 48', 38", 12'". | 

The invention, or more properly speaking, the calculation of j 
the solar year, is due to the ancient Egyptians, who, by the { 
position of their country, as well as by the periodical overflow- 
ings and ebbings of the Nile, had early and obvious induce- 
ments for making astronomical observations. The solar year 
has undergone, in process of time, various corrections and de- 
nominations. The most remarkable of these are indicated by 
the distinctions, still in use, of the Julian, the Gregorian, and 
the Reformed -year. 

Julius Cassar introduced into the Roman empire, the solar or 
Egyptian year, which took from him the name of the Julian 
year. This he substituted instead of the lunar year, which the 
Romans had used before his time. It was distinguished, on ac- 
count of a slight variation in the reckoning, into the common 
and bissextile or leap year. The common Julian year consist- 
ed of 365 days ; and the bissextile, which returned every four 
years, of 366 days. This computation was faulty, inasmuch 
as it allowed 365 days, and 6 entire hours, for the annual re- 
volution of the sun ; being an excess every year, of 11', 14". 
30"', beyond the true time. This, in a long course of ages, 
had amounted to several days ; and began, at length, to derange 
the order of the seasons. 

Pope Gregory XTII.,^ wishing to correct this error, employed 
an able mathematician, named Louis Lilio, to reform the Julian 
year, according to the true annual course of the sun. A new 
calendar was drawn up, which was called after the name 
of that pontiff, the Gregorian calendar ; and as, in consequence 
of the incorrectness of the Julian era, the civil year had gained 
ten days, the same Pope ordered, by a bull published in 1581, 
that these should be expunged from the calendar ; so that, in- 
stead of the 5th of October 1582, they should reckon it the 15th. 

The Catholic States adopted this new calendar without the 
least difficulty; but the Protestants in the Empire, and the 
rest of Europe, as also the Russians and the Greeks, adhered 
to the Julian year ; and hence the distinction between the old 
and new style, to which it is necessary to pay attention in all 
public acts and writings since the year 1582 of the Christian 
era. The difference between the old and new style, which, 
until 1699, was only ten days, and eleven from the commence- 
ment of 1700, must be reckoned twelve days during the pre- 
sent century of 1800; so that the 1st of January of the old 
year, answers to the 13th of the new. 



26 CHAPTER I. 

The Reformed Year or Calendar, as it is called, is distinct 
from the Gregorian, and applies to the calculation of the year, 
which was made by a professor at Jena, named Weigel. It 
differs from the Gregorian year, as to the method of calculating 
the time of Easter, and the other moveable feasts of the Chris- 
tian churches. The Protestants of Germany, Holland, Den- 
mark and Switzerland, adopted this new calendar in 1700. 
Their example was followed in 1752, by Great Britain ; and in 
1753, by Sweden ; but since the year 1776, the Protestants of 
Germany, Switzerland and Holland, abandoned the reformed 
calendar, and adopted the Gregorian ; and there is, properly 
speaking, no nation in Europe at this day, except the Russians 
and the Greeks, which makes use of the Julian calendar, or 
old style/ 

But it is not merely the variations that have prevailed as to 
the form and computation of the year, that have perplexed the 
science of chronology ; the different methods of commencing 
it, have also been the source of much confusion. The Romans, 
from the time of Julius Caesar, began the year on the first of 
January. The ancient Greeks at first reckoned from the win- 
ter solstice, and afterwards from midsummer; the Syro-Mace- 
donians or Seleucidae, commenced from the autumnal equinox. 
The sacred year of the Jews, began with the first new moon 
after the vernal equinox, that is, in the month of March ; and 
their civil year began with the new moon immediately follow- 
ing the autumnal equinox, that is, in the month of September. 

The same diversity of practice which, we observe among the 
ancients, existed also in the middle ages. The Franks, under 
the Merovingian kings, began the year with the month of March. 
The Popes began it sometimes at Christmas, or the 25th of De- 
cember ; sometimes on the 1st of January ; and sometimes on 
the 25th of March, called indiscriminately the day of the Annun- 
ciation or Incarnation. Under the Carlovingian princes, two 
methods of beginning the year were generally prevalent in 
France, — the one fixed its commencement at Christmas, or the 
25th of December, and the other ai Easter ; that is, at the day 
on which that moveable feast happened to fall. This latter 
custom prevailed also under the Capetian kings, and it was not 
suppressed until near the middle of the sixteenth century. 
Charles IX., by an edict published in 1564, ordered, that in 
France the year should henceforth commence on the 1st of Ja- 
nuary. Previously to this edict, it sometimes happened, from 
the variable date of Easter, that the same month was found to 
occur twice in one and the same year. For example, the year 
1358 having begun on the 1st of April, on which Easter diiy 



INTPODUCTION. 27 

happened to fall, did not terminate until the 20th of April fol- 
lowing, that is, on the eve preceding Easter. There were con- 
sequently in this year, nearly two complete months of April. 
Since the reiga of Charles IX., it has continued the invariable 
practice in France to begin the year on the 1st of January. 

In England, the year used to commence on the 25th of March, 
and the old style was there observed until 1753 ; when, by vir- 
tue of an act of Parliament, passed in 1752, the beginning of 
the year was transferred to the 1st of January. It was decreed 
also, at the same time, that, in order to accommodate the En- 
glish chronology to the new style, the 3d of September 1752, 
should be reckoned the 14th of the same month. ' 

It is easy to conceive the perplexity and confusion that must 
have been introduced into chronology, as much by the differ- 
ence of styles as by the different methods of commencing the 
year. Nothing is more probable, than that we should here 
find mistakes and contradictions which, in reality, have no ex- 
istence ; and the more so, as the writers or recorders of public 
acts, who employ these different styles, or date the beginning of 
♦he year variously, never give us any intimation on the sub- 
ject ; and all reckon promiscuously from the year of Christ's 
nativity, without informing us whether they follow the old or 
the new style — whether they commence the year in the month 
of January or March, at Easter or at Christmas. 

Modern chronologists have found much embarrassment in 
calculating the number of years that elapsed between the crea- 
tion and the birth of Christ. Father Petau, one of the most 
learned men in this science, admits, that this point of chrono- 
logy is to be established rather by probable conjectures than so- 
lid arguments. There have even been reckoned, according to 
Fabricius, about a hundred and forty different opinions respect- 
ing the epoch of Christ's nativity. Some fix this era in the 
year of the world 3616, while others carry it back to the year 
6484. This great discordance of opinions arises from the con- 
tradictions found to exist between the three principal texts of the 
Old Testament. The Hebrew text, for instance, to which most 
chronologists gives the preference, fixes the deluge in the year 
of the world 1656 ; while, according to the Samaritan text, it 
happened in 1307 ; and, according to the Septuagint, in 2242. 
The system at present most accredited, is that of Archbishop 
Usher, an Irish prelate, who, founding his calculation on the 
Hebrew text, fixes the date of Christ's nativity in the year of 
the world 4000. 

A variety of epochs prevailed at different times ; as most na- 
tions, both ancient and modern, who had governments and laws 



28 CHAPTER I. 

of their own, adopted chronological eras that were peculiar to 
themselves. The ancient Greeks had their Olympiads, and 
the Syro-Macedonians the era of the SeleucidiB. The Romans 
calculated by consulships, which became the era of their public 
acts ; and besides these, their historians used to reckon from 
the foundation of the city, which goes back 752 years hetore 
Christ, or 3249 after the creation. The era of Dioclesian, in- 
troduced in honour of that emperor, and sometimes also called 
the era of the martyrs, began in the year 284 after Christ, and 
was for a long time used in the West. But, without stopping 
here to enumerate the different eras of antiquity, we shall rather 
restrict ourselves at present to the pointing out of those that 
belong more properly to modern history, viz. 1. The era of 
the modern Greeks. 2. Of the modern Jews. 3. Of the Spa- 
niards. 4. The Hegira, or Mahometan era. 5. The Diony- 
sian, or Christian era. 

The era of the modern Greeks is known by the name of the 
Mundane era of Constantinople. It begins 5508 years before 
the birth of Christ. The first year of the Incarnation thus falls 
in the year of the world 5509 ; and, consequently, the year 
1823 of the Christian era answers to the year 7331 of the Mun- 
dane era of Constantinople. Under this system, two kinds of 
years are in use, the civil and the ecclesiastical. The former 
commences with the month of September, the other has begun 
sometimes on the 21st of March, and sometimes on the 1st of 
April. This era is followed, even at this day, by the Greek 
church. The Russians, who adopted it from the Greeks, along 
with the Christian religion, made use of it even in their civil 
acts, until the reign of Peter the Great. That emperor, in 
1700, abolished the Mundane era of Constantinople, and sub- 
stituted in its place, the Christian era, and the Julian calendar 
or old style. 

The modern Jews have likewise a mundane era ; as they 
reckon from the creation of the world. It commences on the 
7th of October of the Julian year, and reckons 3761 years be- 
fore Christ. The year 3762 of the world, is the first of the 
Christian era, according to the Jews ; and the current year 
(1823) answers to the year 5583 of their mundane era. 

In Spain, the era began with the year of Rome 714, thirty- 
eight years before the birth of Christ; being the time when the 
triumvirate was renewed between Caesar Octavianus, Mark An- 
tony, and Lepidus. The Spaniards, wishing to give Octavia- 
nus some testimony of their satisfaction on being comprehended 
within his province, began a new era with this event,^ w! i<"h 
prevailed not only in Spain and Portugal, but also in Africa, 



INTRODUCTION. 



29 



and those parts of France which were subject to the dominion 
of the Visigoths. It is of great importance to know, that the 
Spaniards and Portuguese constantly employed this era in their 
annals and public acts, so late as the 14th and 15th centuries, 
when they substituted the Christian era in its place. 

The era which the Mussulman nations follow is that of Ma- 
homet, called the Hegira, or the Flight of the Prophet. It be- 
gan on the 16th of July 622 A. C, and is composed of lunar 
years. In order to find out in what year of the vulgar era any 
given year of the Hegira falls, it is necessary first to reduce 
the lunar into solar years, and then add the number 622. For 
example, the year 1238 of the Hegira, answers to the year 1823 
of the vulgar, or Christian era. It began on the 18th of Sep- 
tember 1822, and ended on the 7th of the following September 

Dionysius or Denys the Little, a Roman Abb<$, who lived in 
the time of the Emperor Justinian, about the year of Christ 530, 
was the author of the vulgar era, which afterwards received a 
more perfect form from the hands of the venerable Bede, an 
English monk, about the year 720. Before that time, the Latins, 
or Christians of the West, employed the era of the Consuls, or 
that of Dioclesian. Denys the Little, imagining it would be 
more convenient for the Christians to reckon their time from the 
birth of Christ, applied himself with great industry to calculate 
the number of years that had elapsed from the Incarnation to 
his own times. Modern chronologists have remarked, that 
both Denys and Bede were mistaken in their calculations ; but 
a difference of opinion prevails on this subject, as may be 
seen in the learned work of Fabricius. There are some of 
these chronologists who date the birth of Christ thirty-four years 
earlier, while others find a difference of but one year, or at most 
four, between the true epoch of the nativity, and that adopted 
by Denys. This disagreement of the modern chronologists has 
given rise to the distinction between the true era of the birth 
of Christ, and the Vulgar or Dionysian era, which the general 
usage has now consecrated and established. 

In France, this era was not introduced until the eighth century. 
We find it employed, for the first time, in the acts of the Coun- 
cils of Germany, Liptines, and Soissons, held in the years 
742-3-4, under Pepin, surnamed the Short. The Kings of 
France never used it in their public acts, until the end of the 
ninth century ; and the Popes only since the eleventh. 

In order to compare the different eras, and to facilitate the 
process of reducing the years of one into those of another, a 
scheme has beeen proposed called the Julian period. Thr in- 
vention of this is due to Joseph Scaliger, a professor at Leyden, 



30 CHAPTER I. 

and well known by his chronological works. He gave it the 
name of Julian, because the Julian year served as the basis of 
it. It is composed of the several products of the cycles of the 
sun, the moon, and the indictions multiplied by each other. 

The cycle nf the sun is a period, or revolution of twenty- 
eight solar years ; at the end of which the same order of years 
returns, by a kind of circle or cycle. Its use is to indicate the 
days on which each year commences, and the Dominical Let- 
ters. These are the first seven letters of the alphabet, a, b, c, 
D, E, F, G, which are employed to indicate the seVen days of the 
week, more particularly the Sabbath {dies Dominica.) At the 
end of twenty-eight years, of which this cycle is composed, 
there returns a new order or series of years, so similar to the 
preceding, that the dominical letters again answer exactly to the 
same days. 

The cycle of the moon comprises nineteen lunar years, twelve 
of which are called common, and the remaining seven interca- 
lary ; these yield a product of 6939 days 18 hours, according 
to the calculation of the ancients f and are equal to nineteen 
Julian or solar years. By means of this cycle always re- 
curring, th'e new moons fall again on the same days and the 
same hours on which they had happened nineteen years before ; 
so that, for all the new moons, the cycle which is to come is 
entirely similar to the preceding. The cipher which indicates 
the year of the cycle, is called the golden mnnber, because they 
used to write it in characters of gold in the ancient calendars, 
where it was employed to mark the times of the new moons. 

The cycle of indiations is a cycle which recurs every fifteen 
years ; and which, like those already mentioned, was frequent- 
ly employed in charters and public records. The origin of 
these indictions is generally referred to a contribution or cess 
appointed, for fifteen years, by the Romans, and afterwards re- 
newed for the same period. They began in the reign of Con- 
stantine the Great, that is, about the year of Christ 313, and are 
distinguished into three kinds ; 1. That of Constantinople, 
which was employed by the Greek Emperors, and began on 
the 1st of September; 2. That which was termed the Imperial, 
or Cocsarean indiction, the use of which was limited to the 
West, and which began on the 25th of September ; and, 3. 
The Roman or Pontifical indiction, which the Popes employed 
in their bulls. This last began on the 25ih of December, or 
the 1st of January, according as the one or the other of these 
days was reckoned by the Romans the first of the new year. 

The cycle of the sun. comprising twenty-eight years, and 
Uiat of the moon nineteen, when multiplied together, give a 



I 1 

I I 



INTRODirCTlON. 33 

product of 532, which is called the Paschal cycle, because it 
serves to ascertain the feast of Easter, The product of 5'32, 
multiplied by 15, the cycle of indictions, amounts to the num- 
ber 7980, which constitutes the Julian period. Within the com- 
pass of this period may be placed, as it were, under one view, 
ihese different eras and epochs, in order to compare and recon- 
cile them with each other ; adopting, as their common term, the 
nativity of Christ, fixed to the year 4714 of the Julian period. 

History has been divided, according to the different subjects 
of which it treats, into Civil, Ecclesiastical, and Literary. 
Civil and political history is occupied entirely with events 
that relate to mankind, as distributed into societies, and united 
together by governments, laws, and manners. Ecclesiastical 
history is confined to those events that properly belong to reli- 
gion. Literary history treats more particularly of the origin, 
progress, and vicissitudes of the arts and sciences. The His- 
tory of Philosophy, which is a subdivision of Literary History, 
illustrates the different systems of philosophy that have flou- 
rished in the world, both in ancient and modern limes. 

Another division of history, according to its extent, is that of 
Universal, General, and Particular History. Universal history 
gives a kind of outline or summary of the events of all the na- 
tions that have figured on the earth, from the remotest ages to 
the present time. 

By general history, is understood that which treats of the 
revolutions that have happened in the world, whether of great 
states or confederate powers, or of several nations combined to- 
gether, by various and complicated interests. Thus, there may 
be a general history of France, or of Great Britain, a general 
history of the United Provinces, a general history of Europe, 
&c. Particular history embraces, in detail, the events of a par- 
ticular people, or province, or city, or illustrious individual. 

Finally, in regard to the time of which it treats, history is 
distinguished into Ancient and Modern, and that of the Middle 
Ages. Ancient history is that of the nations who flourished 
from the time of the creation to the fifth century; while the 
history of the middle ages has, for its object, the revolutions 
that took place from the fifth to the end of the fifteenth century. 
What is now termed modern history, is that which retraces the 
events of the last three centuries. 

This division, which applies more particularly to the history 
of Europe, is founded on the great revolutions which this part 
of the world experienced in the fifth and fifteenth centuries, 
The revolution of the fifth century ended in the subversion of 
the Roman empire in the West, and gave birth to the principal 



38 CHAJTER I. 

States in modern Europe ; while that of the fifteenth century, 
which dates its commencement from the destruction of the 
Eastern empire, brought along with it the revival of literature 
and the fine arts, and the renovation of civil society in Europe. 

Although ancient history does not enter into the plan of the 
following work, nevertheless it appeared necessary to give here 
a brief sketch of it to the reader, with the view of connecting 
the order of time, and the chain of the great events that have 
occurred from the remotest ages to the present day. We have 
divided it into three periods, the first of which embraces 3000, 
the second 1000, and the third 500 years. 

The first period, which comprises thirty cemuries, is almost 
wholly fabulous. The notices of it that have been transmitted 
to us are very imperfect. The order of time cannot be estab- 
lished on any solid foundation. Even the authenticity of the 
famous Parian marbles, has been called in question as spurious ; 
and there is no other chronology that can guide our steps 
through this dark labyrinth of profane history. The only lite- 
rary monuments that are left us of these remote and obscure 
ages, are the books of Moses and the Jews. Herodotus, the 
earliest profane historian, wrote more than a thousand years 
after Moses, and about 450 before Christ. He had been prece- 
ded several centuries by Sanchoniathon the Phoenician ; but 
the work of this latter historian is lost, and there exists only a 
few scattered fragments of it in Porphyry and Eusebius. 

It appears, therefore, that of the 4500 years that fall within 
the compass of ancient history, the first thirty centuries may, 
without inconvenience, be retrenched. Amidst the darkness oi 
those ages, wediscover nothing but the germs of societies, gov- 
ernments, sciences and arts. The Egyptians, the Israelites, the 
Phoenicians, the Assyrians, the Babylonians, or Chaldeans, 
made then the most conspicuous figure among the nations of 
Asia and Africa. 

The Egyptians and Chaldeans were the first who cultivated 
astronomy. Egypt was long the nursery of arts and sciences. 
The Phoenicians, without any other guide than the stars, boldly 
traversed unknown seas, and gave a vast extent of intercourse 
to their commerce and navigation. They founded many 
celebrated colonies, such as Carthage in Africa, and Malaga and 
Cixdiz on the shores of Spain. 

The history of Europe, which is utterly unknown during the 
first two thousand years, begins to exhibit in the third millenary, 
a few slight notices of ancient Greece. A multitude of petty 
stales had then taken root ; most of which, as Argos, Athens 
and Thebes, had been founded by colonies from Egypt. The 



INTRODUCTION. 33 

Greeks, in imitation of the Phoenicians, applied themselves to 
arts, navigation, and commerce. They established numerous 
colonies, not only on the coast of Asia Minor, but on those of 
Italy and Sicily. That in lower Italy or Calabria, was known 
by the name of Magna Grsecia. 

It was during the second period of ancient history, or in the 
fourth millenary, that great and powerful monarchies arose; 
which contributed to the progress of arts and civilization, and 
the perfection of society. These are commonly reckoned five, 
viz. the Egyptian, the Assyrian, the Persian, the Macedonian, 
and the Roman ; all of which successively established them- 
selves on the ruins of each other. 

The history of the two first monarchies is enveloped in 
mystery and doubt. Of the ancient Egyptians, nothing now 
remains but their pyramids, their temples, and obelisks, — monu- 
ments which can only attest the power and grandeur of the 
ancient sovereigns of Egypt. 

As to the Assyrian antiquities, the contradictions that we find 
between the narratives of Herodotus and Ctesias, cannot fail to 
make us reject, as fabulous, the details of the latter, respecting 
the magnificence of Ninus, Semiramus, and Sardanapalus, the 
supposed monarchs of Assyria and Babylon. Nothing certain 
is known of this empire, or the conquests of these kings, 
beyond what we find recorded in the annals of the Jews. 
Shalmaneser, King of Assyria, subdued the kingdom of Sama- 
ria or Israel, about the year of the world 3270 ; and Nebu- 
chadnezzar, one of his successors, conquered that of Judah and 
Jerusalem, about the year 3403. 

The Persian monarchy was founded by Cyrus, who put an 
end to the dominion of the Assyrians and Babylonians, by taking 
the city of Babylon, about the year of the world 346[jL The 
empire, when at its greatest height, under Darius Hystaspes, 
comprehended all that part of Asia which stretches from the 
Indus to the Caspian Sea, and from the Euxine to the shores of 
the Mediterranean. Egypt in Africa, and Thrace in Europe, were 
subject to its laws. After a duration of nearly two centuries, 
it was finally destroyed by the Macedonians in the year 3672. 

Greece, which was at first divided into several petty king- 
doms, changed its condition towards the commencement of the 
fourth millenary ; when its principal cities, till then governed 
by kings, formed themselves into detached republics. An en- 
thusiasm for liberty spread over all Greece, and inspired every 
bosom with the love of glory. Military bravery, as well as arts, 
and talents of all kinds, were fostered and encouraged by public 
games, the principal of which were the Olympic. Two cities, 



34 CHAPTER I. 

Athens and Lacedemon, fixed upon themselves for a time the 
eyes of all Greece. Solon was the legislator of the former, and 
Lycurgus of the latter. To these two republics all the rest suc- 
cumbed, either as allies, or by right of conquest. Athens has 
rendered herself immortal by the victories which she gained 
over the Persians, at the famous battles of Marathon, Salamis. 
and Plataea; fought a. m. 3512, 3522, and 3523. 

The ascendency which these victories procured the Atheni- 
ans over the rest of the Greek states, excited the jealousy of 
the Lacedemonians, and became the principal cause of the 
famous civil war which arose in 3572, between these two repub- 
lics, and which is known by the name of the Peloponnesian war. 
This was followed by various other civil wars ; and these dis- 
asters contributed to greatly exhaust the Greeks, and to break 
that union which had been the true source of their prosperity 
and their glory. Philip, King of Macedon, had the address to 
turn these unhappy divisions to his own advantage, and soon 
made himself master of all Greece. The battle of Chaeronea, 
which he gained over the Athenians about the year of the 
world 3664, completed the conquest of that country. 

Alexander the Great, son of Philip, afterwards attacked the 
Persian empire, which he utterly overthrew, in consequence of 
the three victories which he gained over Darius Codomannus. 
the last of the Persian kings, at the passage of the Granicus in 
3668, at Issus in 3669, and near Arbela in 3672. 

The monarchy founded by Alexander fell to pieces after his 
death. From its wreck were formed, among others, by three 
of his generals, the three kingdoms of Macedon, Syria and 
Egypt; all of which were conquered in succession by the Ro- 
mans, A. M. 3835, 3936, and 3972. Greece itself had been 
reduced to a Roman province, after the famous sack of Corinth, 
and the destruction of the Achaean league, A. m. 3856, or 144 
years before Christ. 

The empire of the Greeks was succeeded by that of the 
Romans, which is distinguished from all its predecessors, not 
more by its extent and duration, than by the wisdom with 
which it was administered, and the fine monuments of all kinds 
which it has transmitted to posterity. The greatness of this em- 
pire was not, however, the achievement of a single conqueror, 
but the work of ages. Its prosperity must be chiefly ascribed 
to the primitive constitution of the Republic, which inspired the 
Romans with the love of liberty, and the spirit of patriotism — 
which animated them to glory and perseverance, and taught 
them to despise dangers and death. Their religion, likewise, 
served as a powerful engine to restrain and direct the multitude, 
according to the views and designs of the government. 



INTRODUCTION. 36 

The earlier part of the Roman history may be divided into 
three periods. The first of these represents Rome under the 
government of kings ; from the time of its foundation, about 
the year of the world 3249, to the expulsion of Tarquin the 
Proud, and the establishment of the Republic, in 3493. The 
second extends from the establishment of the Republic, in the 
year of Rome 245, to the first Punic war, in the year of the 
City 490, and of the world 3738. The third commences with 
the first Punic war, and terminates at the battle of Actium. 
which put an end to the Republican government, and re-estab- 
lished monarchy under Augustus, in the year of Rome 723. 

During the first of these periods, the Romans had to sustain 
incessant wars with their neighbours, the petty states of Italy. 
They subdued the whole of that peninsula in course of the 
second period ; and it was not till the third, that they carried 
their arms beyond their own country, to conquer the greater 
portion of the then known world. The first two periods of the 
Roman history, are full of obscure and uncertain traditions. In 
those remote ages, the Romans paid no attention to the study of 
letters. Immersed entirely in the business of war, they had no 
other historical records than the annals of their pontiffs, which 
perished in the sack of Rome, at the time of its invasion by the 
Gauls, in the year of the City 365. 

The most ancient of their historians was Fabius Pictor, who 
wrote his Annals in the sixth century after the foundation of 
Rome, or about the time of the second Punic war. These 
Annals, in which Fabius had consulted both tradition and 
foreign authors, are lost; and we possess no information on 
these two periods of Roman history, except what has been left 
us by Dionysius of Halicarnassus, and Titus Livius, who both 
wrote in the reign of Augustus, and whose narratives often re- 
semble a romance rather than a true history. 

The cultivation of letters and arts among the Romans, did 
not, properly speaking, commence until the third period ; and 
after they had had intercourse with civilized nations, as the 
Carthaginians and Greeks. It was not until 484 years after the 
building of the city, that they struck their first silver coinage ; 
and ten years afterwards, they equipped their first fleet against 
the Carthaginians. It is at this period, also, that truth begins 
to dawn upon their history, and to occupy the place of fable 
and tradition. Besides their native historians, Titus Livius, 
Florus, and Velleius Paterculus, several Greek authors, as Po- 
lybius, Plutarch, Appian of Alexandria, Dion Cassius, &c. have 
furnished useful memorials on this period. The history of 
Polybius, especially, is a work of the highest merit. The 



36 CHAPTER I. 

Statesman will there find lessons on politich and government 
and the soldier instructions in the art of war. 

A long series of foreign wars put the Romans in possession 
of the Isles of the Mediterranean, Spain, Northern Africa, 
Egypt, Gaul, Illyria, Macedonia, Greece, Thrace, and all Asia, 
as far as the Euphrates. The destruction of the powerful re- 
public of Carthage was the grand cast of the die that decided 
the empire of the world in favour of the Romans. 

Carthage was a colony which the ancient Phenicians had 
founded on the coast of Africa, near the modern city of Tunis, 
in the year of the v/orld 3119, and 130 before the founding of 
Rome. In imitation of their mother country, the Carthaginians 
rendered themselves famous by their merchandise and their 
marine. The extent to which they carried their commerce, and 
the force necessary for its protection, rendered their arms every 
where victorious. They gradually extended their conquests 
along the shores of Africa, in Spain, and the islands of the 
Mediterranean. 

The attempts which they had made to get possession of 
Sicily, was the occasion of embroiling them in a war with the 
Romans. For nearly two hundred years, Rome and Carthage 
disputed between them the empire of the world; and it was 
not until these two mighty rivals had, more than once, made 
each other tremble for their independence, that the Carthaginians 
yielded to the yoke of the conqueror. Their capital, after a 
siege which lasted nearly three years, was completely laid in 
ruins by the famous Scipio jEmilianus, the scholar of Polybius 
No monument of the Carthaginians now remains to point out 
the ancient splendour of that republic. Their national archives, 
and all the literary treasures they contained, perished with the 
city, or were destroyed by the Romans. The destruction of 
Carthage happened in the year of Rome 608, and of the world 
3856, the same year that witnessed the sack of Corinth. 

The fall of Carthage, and more especially the conquest of 
Greece, Egypt, and the Asiatic kingdoms, occasioned a wonder- 
ful revolution in the manners and government of the Romans 
The riches of the East, the arts and institutions of the van 
quished nations, brought them acquainted with luxuries they 
had never known, which soon proved the fatal harbingers of 
vice. Their patriotism and love of liberty insensibly declined. 
and became extinct : powerful and ambitious citizens fomented 
insurrections and civil wars, which ended in the subversion of 
the republican government, and the establishment of monarchy. 
Two triumvirates appeared in succession. The first consisted 
of Pompey, Cassar, and Crass us, and was dissolved in conse- 



INTRODUCTION. 37 

quence of the civil war that arose among the triumvirs. Caesar, 
having conquered Pompey at the battle of Pharsalia, in the 
year of Rome 706, became master of the empire, under the title 
of perpetual dictator. This new elevation of fortune he did 
not long enjoy ; he was assassinated in the senate by a band of 
conspirators, at the head of whom was Brutus, in the year of 
Rome 710, and 42 before the birth of Christ. 

A second triumvirate was formed between Mark Antony, 
Caesar Octavianus, and Lepidus. Many thousands of illustri- 
ous Romans, and among others Cicero, were at this time pro- 
scribed, and put to death by order of the triumvirs. Jealousy 
having at length disunited these new tyrants, Octavianus stripped 
Lepidus of his power, and defeated Mark Antony in the famous 
naval battle which took place near the promontory of Actium, 
in the year of Rome 723. Antony having been assassinated in 
Egypt, immediately after his defeat, Caesar Octavianus became 
sole master of the empire, which he afterwards ruled with 
sovereign authority under the name of Augustus. 

At this time the Roman empire comprehended the finest 
countries of Europe and Asia ; with Egypt and all the northern 
part of Africa. It was bounded on the west by the Rhine and 
the Danube, and on the east by the Euphrates. The successors 
of Augustus added the greater part of Britian to the empire. 
Trajan carried his victorious arms beyond the Danube; he con- 
quered the Dacians, who inhabited those countries known at 
present under the name of Hungary, Transylvania, Moldavia, 
Walachia, and Bessarabia. In the East this prince extended the 
limits of the empire beyond the Euphrates, having subdued 
Mesopotamia, Assyria, Armenia, Colchis and Iberia, (or Geor- 
gia ;) but the conquests of Trajan were abandoned by his suc- 
cessors, and the empire again shrunk within the bounds pre- 
scribed by Augustus. 

This empire, which extended from north to south nearly six 
hundred leagues, and more than a thousand from east to west; i 
viz. from the 24*^ to the 56° of latitude, comprised a total of 
180,000 square leagues. The population, during its most 
flourishing state, may be estimated at about 120,000,000, — a 
population which equals that of modern Europe, with the ex- 
ception of Great Britain, Denmark, Sweden, Russia and Turkey. 

The government which had been introduced, was an absolute 
monarchy, only clothed with the forms of the ancient republic. 
Under the populai titles of consul, tribune of the people, gene^ 
ral, grand pontifT, censor, &c. the prince united in himself all 
the various attributes of supreme power. The senate indeed 
enjoyed extensive prerogatives ; the legislative power, which 



38 CHAPTER 1. 

had been reserved at first for the people, was afterwards trans* 
ferred to this body ; but as the niilitary were wholly subordinate 
to the prince, and as he had also at his command a numerous 
guard, it is easy to perceive that the authority of the senate was 
but precarious, and by no means a counterpoise to that of the 
prince. 

A government so constructed could not insure the welfare 
and happiness of the people, except under princes as humane as 
Titus, as just and enlightened as Trajan and the Antonines ; or 
so long as the forms introduced by Augustus should be respect- 
ed. It could not fail to degenerate into arbitrary power, under 
tyrants such as Tiberius, Caligula, Nero, and Domitian ; and 
the senate must then have been but a servile instrument in the 
hands of the prince, employed by him to facilitate the means of 
satiating his passions and his tyranny. 

The maxims of absolute power soon became the fashionable 
and favourite doctrine. Civilians began to teach publicly, that 
all the authority of the senate and the people was transferred to 
the prince ; that he was superior to the laws ; that his power 
extended to the lives and fortunes of the citizens ; and that he 
might dispose of the state as his own patrimony. These en- 
croachments of despotism, joined to the instability of the imperial 
throne, the decay of military discipline, the unbridled license of 
the troops, the employing whole corps of barbarians in their 
wars, must all be reckoned among the number of causes that 
hastened the downfall of the Roman empire. 

Constanline the Great, was the first of the emperors that em- 
braced Christianity, and made it the established religion of the 
state in 324. He quitted the city of Rome, the ancient residence 
of the Caesars, and fixed his capital at Byzantium, in 330, which 
took from him the name of Constantinople. Anxious to provide 
for the security of his new capital, he stationed the flower of his 
legions in the East, dismantled the frontiers on the Rhine and 
the Danube, and dispersed into the provinces and towns, the 
troops who had heretofore encamped on the borders of these 
great rivers. In this way he secured the peace and tranquillity 
of the interior, and infused, for a time, a new vigour into the 
government ; but he committed a great mistake in giving the 
first example of making a formal division of the state between 
his sons, without regard to the principle of unity and indivisi- 
bility which his predecessors had held sacred. It is true, this 
separation was not of long continuance; but it was renewed 
afterwards by Theodosius the Great, who finally divided the 
empire between his two sons in the year 395 ; Arcadius had the 
eastern, and Honorius the western part of the empire. This 



INTEODUCTION. 



39 



latter comprehended Italy, Gaul, Britain, Spain, Northern Afri- 
ca, Rhetia, Vindelicia, Noricum, Pannonia, and Illyria. It was 
during the reign of Honorius, and under the administration of 
his minister Stilicho, that the memorable invasion of the barba- 
rians happened, which was followed shortly after, by the de- 
struction of the Western Empire. 

It is with this great event, which gave birth to a variety of 
new states and kingdoms, that the following History of the Revo- 
lutions of Europe commences. It is divided into nine sections 
or periods of time, according to the successive changes which the 
political system of Europe experienced from the fifth to the 
nineteenth century. 

In the first, which extends to the year 800, the barbarians, 
who invaded the Western Empire, formed new states in Spain, 
Gaul, and Italy; and produced a complete revolution in the 
governments, laws, manners, letters, and arts of Europe. It was 
during this period that the Franks gained the ascendency over 
the other European nations; that the Popes laid the ground- 
work of their secular power ; that Mahomet founded a new re- 
ligion in Asia, and an empire which extended through Africa 
into Spain. 

In the second period, which extends from 800 to 962, a vast 
empire was erected, and again dismembered, after enjoying a 
short-lived splendour. From its wreck were formed new king- 
doms, which have served as the basis for several states of mo- 
dern times. Others were established by the Normans, Russians, 
and Hungarians. 

In the third period, which terminates with the year 1072, 
Germany became the preponderating power, and began to de- 
cline, through the abuse of the feudal system. The House of 
Capet mounted the throne of France ; and the Normans achiev- 
ed the conquest of England. The Northern nations, converted 
to Christianity, began to make some figure in history: the mo- 
narchy of Russia became great and powerful ; while the Greek 
empire, and that of the Romans, fell into decay. 

During \.\ie fourth period, which ends with the year 1300, the 
Roman Pontiffs acquired an immense sway. This is also the 
epoch of the Crusades, which had a powerful influence on the 
ijocial and political state of the European nations : The dark- 
ness of the middle ages began gradually to disappear ; the esta- 
blishment of communities, and the enfranchisement of the serfs, 
gave birth to new ideas of liberty. The Roman jurisprudence 
was restored from the neglect and oblivion into which it had 
fallen, and taught in the universities : Italy was covered with a 
multitude of republics, and the kingdom of the two Sicilies, and 



40 CHAPTER I. 

of Portugal were founded : The inquisition was established m 
France, and Magna Charta in England : The Moguls in the east 
raised, by their conquests, a powerful and extensive empire. 

The^;!^ period, which ends at the taking of Constantinople 
by the Turks in 1453, witnessed the decline of the Pontifical 
jurisdiction : Learning and science made some progress, and 
various important discoveries prepared the way for still greater 
improvements: Commerce began to flourish, and extend its in- 
tercourse more widely: The European states assumed their 
present form ; while the Turks, an Asiatic race, established their 
dominion in Europe. 

The sixth period, from 1453 to 1648, is the epoch of the re- 
vival of the belles lettres, and the fine arts ; and of the discovery 
America: It is also that of the Reformation of religion accom- 
plished in Germany ; the influence of which has extended over 
all the countries in the world. It was likewise during this 
period that Europe was desolated by religious wars, which 
eventually must have plunged it again into a state of barbarism. 
The peace of Westphalia became the basis of the political sys- 
tem of Europe. 

In the seventh period, from 1648 to 1713, this federal system 
was turned against France, whose power threatened to overturn 
the political balance of Europe. The peace of Utrecht set 
bounds to the ambition of its aspiring monarchs, while that of 
Oliva adjusted the contending claims of the North. 

The European states, delivered from the terror of universal 
dominion, began to think the establishment of it an impossibility; 
and losing conceit of the system of political equipoise, they sub- 
stituted in its place maxims of injustice and violence. 

The eighth period, which comes down to 1789, is an epoch 
of weakness and corruption, during which the doctrines of a 
libertine and impious philosophy led the way to the downfall of 
thrones and the subversion of social order. 

[The consequences of this new philosophy bring us to the 
ninth period, during which, Europe was almost entirely revolu- 
tionized. The present history terminates with the year 1815, 
which forms a natural division in this revolutionary epoch; the 
final results of which can be known only to posterity ] 



VIEW 

OF THE 

REVOLUTIONS OF EUROPE. 



CHAPTER II 

PERIOD L 

FroTn the Invasion of the Roman Empire in the West by the 
Barbaria/is, to the time of Charlemagne, a. d. 406 — 800. 

The Roman empire had, for many years, been gradually 
tending towards its downfall. Its energies were exhausted ; 
and it required no great efforts to lay prostrate that gigantic 
power which had almost lost its strength and activity. The 
vices of the government, the relaxation of discipline, the ani- 
mosities of faction, and the miseries of the people, all announced 
the approaching ruin of the empire. Divided by mutual jea- 
lousies, enervated by luxury, and oppressed by despotism, the 
Romans were in no condition to withstand the numerous swarms 
of barbarians from the North, who, unacquainted with luxury, 
and despising danger and death, had learned to conquer in the 
ranks of the Imperial armies. 

Several of the Emperors, guided by a short-sighted policy, 
had received into their pay entire battalions of foreigners ; and 
to recompense their servicies, had assigned them settlements in 
the frontier provinces of the empire. Thus the Franks obtained, 
by way of compensation, territories in Belgic Gaul; while simi- 
lar grants were made in Pannonia and in Thrace, to the Vandals, 
Alans, Goths, and other barbarians. This liberality of the Ro- 
mans, which was a true mark of weakness, together with the 
vast numbers of these troops which they employed in their wars, 
at length accustomed the barbarians to regard the empire as their 
prey. Towards the close of the year 406, the Vandals, the 
Suevi, and the Alans, sounded the tocsin of that famous inva- 
sion which accelerated the downfall of the Western empire. 
The example of these nations was soon followed by the Visi- 
goths, the Burgundians, the Alemanns,' the Franks, the Huns, 
the Angles, the Saxons, the Heruls, the Ostrogoths, and the 
Lombards. All these nations, with the exception of the Huns, 
were of German origin. 



42 CUAPTKR U. 

The Van pals, it appears, were originally settled in that part 
of norihern Germany which lies between the Elbe and the Vis- 
tula. They formed a> branch of the ancient Suevi, as did also 
the Burgundians and the Lombards. After the third century, 
and under the reign of the Emperor Probus, we find them, with 
the Burgundians, engaged in warring against the Romans on 
the Rhine. In the time of Aurelian, (272) they established them- 
selves in the western part of Dacia, that is, in Transylvania, and 
a part of modern Hungary. Oppressed in these districts by the 
Goths, they obtained from Constantine the Great, settlements in 
Pannonia, on condition of rendering military service to the 
Romans. They remained in Pannonia, until the commencement 
of the fifth century, when they set out on their emigration to- 
wards Gaul. It was on this occasion that they associated them- 
selves with the Alans, a people originally from Mount Caucasus, 
and ancient Scythia; a branch of which, settled in Sarmatia 
near the source of the Borysthenes or Dnieper, had advanced 
as far as the Danube, and there made a formidable stand against 
the Romans. In their passage through Germany, the Vandals 
and the Alans joined a body of the Suevi, who also inhabited 
the banks of the Danube, eastward of the powerful nation of the 
Alemanns. United in this rude confederacy, they entered Gaul, 
plundering and destroying wherever they went. Mayence, 
Worms, Spire, Strasbourg, and many flourishing cities of Gaul, 
were pillaged by these barbarians. 

The Goths,* the most powerful of these destructive nations, 
began to rise into notice in the third century, after the time of 
the Emperor Caracalla. They then inhabited the country be- 
tween the Vistula, the Dniester, the Borysthenes, and the Tanais 
or Don. It is not certain whether they were originally from 
these regions, or whether, in more remote times, they inhabited 
Scandinavia, from which, according to Jornandes, a Gothic au- 
thor, they emigrated at an early period. It is however certain, 
that they were of German extraction ; and that, in the third and 
fourth centuries, they made the Caesars tremble on their thrones. 
The Emperor Aurelian was compelled (274) to abandon the pro- 
vince of Dacia to their dominion. 

This nation, the first of the German tribes that embraced the 
Christian religion,' was divided, in their ancient settlements 
beyond the Danube, into two principal branches. They who 
inhabited the districts towards the east and the Euxine Sea, 
between the Dniester, the Borysthenes, and the Tanais, were 
called Ostrogoths ; the Visigoths were the branch which extend- 
ed vvestward, and occupied ancient Dacia, and the regions situ- 
ated between the Dniester, the Danube and the Vistula. At- 



PERIOD I. A. D. 406—800. 43 

tacked in these vast countries by the Huns, (375) some were 
subjugated, and others compelled to abandon their habitations. 
A part of the Visigoths then fixed their abode in Thrace, ia 
Maesia, and the frontiers of Dacia, with consent of the emperors ; 
who granted also to the Ostrogoths settlements in Pannonia. 
At length the Visigoths, after having twice ravaged Italy, sacked 
and plundered Rome, ended their conquests by establishing 
themselves in Gaul and in Spain. One branch of these Goths 
appears to have been the Thuringians, whom we find in the 
fifth century established in the heart of Germany, where they 
erected a very powerful kingdom. 

The Franks were probably a confederacy which the German 
tribes, situated between the Rhine, the Maine, the Weser, and 
the Elbe, had formed among themselves, in order to maintain 
their liberty arid independence against the Romans. Tacitus, 
who wrote about the commencement of the second century, did 
not know them under this new name, which occurs for the first 
time in the historians of the third century. Among the German 
tribes who composed this association, we find the Chauci, the 
Sicambri, the Chamavi, the Cherusci, the Bructeri, the Catti, 
the Ampsivarii, the Ripuarii, the Salii, &C.'' These tribes, 
though combined for the purposes of common defence, under 
the general name of Franks, preserved, nevertheless, each their 
laws and form of government, as well as their particular chiefs, 
1 ! and the names of their aboriginal tribes. In the fourth, and 
j I towards the beginning of the fifth century, the whole country 
i 1 lying within the Rhine, the Weser, the Maine, and the Elbe, 
j ' was called Francia. 

I i Another confederation of the German tribes, was that of the 

I I Alemanns ; unknown also to Tacitus. It took its origin about 
I j the commencement of the third century. Their territories ex- 
tended between the Danube, the Rhine, the Necker, the Main, 
and the Lahn. On the east, in a part of Franconia and modem 
Suabia, they had for their neighbours and allies the Suevi, 
who, after having long formed a distinct nation, were at length 
blended with the Alemanns, and gave their country the name 
of Suabia. The Alemanns rendered themselves formidable to 
the Romans, by their frequent inroads into Gaul and Italy, in the 
third and fourth centuries. 

The Saxons, unknown also to Tacitus, began to make a 
figure in history about the second century, when we find th^m 
settled beyond the Elbe, in modern Holstein, having for their 
neighbours the Angles, or English, inhabiting Sleswick Proper. 
These nations were early distinguished as pirates and free- 
booters ; and, while the Franks and the Alemanns spread them- 



44 CHAPTER n. 

selves over the interior of Gaul, the Saxons infested the coapts 
and even extended their incursions into Britain. The Franks 
having penetrated into Gaul with their main forces, the Saxons 
passed the Elbe, and in course of time, occupied, or united in 
alliance with them, the greater part of ancient Francia, which 
took from them the name of Saxony. There they subdivided 
themselves into three principal branches ; the Ostphuiians to 
the east, the Westphalians to the west, and the Angria7is or 
Angrivarians, whose territories lay between the other two, 
along the Weser, and as far as the confines of Hesse. 

The Hqns, the most fierce and sanguinary of all the nations 
which overran the Roman Empire in the fifth century, came 
trom the remote districts of northern Asia, which were altogether 
unknown to the ancient Greeks and Romans. From the de- 
scriptions which the historians of the fifth and sixth centuries 
have given us of them, we are led to believe, that they were 
Kalmucks or Monguls originally. The fame of their arms had 
begun to spread over Europe so early as the year 375 of the 
Christian era. Having subdued the Alans, and crossed the 
Tanais, they subverted the powerful monarchy of the Goths, and 
gave the first impulse to the great revolution of the fifth cen- 
tury, which changed the face of all Europe. The Eastern empire 
first felt the fury of these barbarians, who carried fire and sword 
wherever they went, rendered the Emperors their tributaries, 
and then precipitated themselves on the West under the conduct 
of the famous Attila.* 

Several of the nations we have now enumerated, divided 
among themselves the territories of Gaul. This province, one 
of the richest and most important in the Western empire, was 
repeatedly overrun and devastated by the barbarous hordes of the 
fifth century. The Visigoths were the first that formed settle- 
ments in it. On their arrival under the command of King Atulf 
or Adolphus, (412,) they took possession of the whole country 
lying within the Loire, the Rhine, the Durance, the Mediter- 
ranean, and the Alps. Toulouse became their capital, and the 
residence of their kings. 

The BuRGUNDiANS, a people, it would appear, originally from 
the countries situated between the Oder and the Vistula, fol- 
lowed nearly in the track of the Visigoths ; as we find them, 
about the year 413, established on the Upper Rhine and in 
Switzerland. After the dissolution of the empire, they suc- 
ceeded in establishing themselves in those parts of Gaul, known 
by the names ef the Sequanois, Lyonnois, Viennois and Nar- 
bonnois, viz. in those districts which formed, in course of lime, 
the two Burgundies, the provinces of Lyonnois, Dauphiny and 



PERIOD I. A. D. 406—800. 45 

Provence on this side of the Durance, Savoy, the Pays de Vaud, 
the Valais and Switzerland." These counlriea then assumed 
the name of the Kingdom of the Burgundians. 

The Alemanni and the SuEvi became flourishing nations on 
the banks of the Upper Rhine and the Danube. They invaded 
those countries in Gaul, or the Germania Prima of the Romans, 
known since under the names of Alsace, the Palatinate, May- 
ence, &c. ; and extended their conquests also over a considerable 
part of Rhetia and Vindelicia. 

At length the Franks, having been repulsed in different ren- 
counters by the Romans, again passed the Rhine (430,) under 
the conduct of Clodion their chief; made themselves masters 
of the greater part of Belgic Gaul, took possession of Tournay, 
Cambray and Amiens ; and thus laid the foundation of the new 
kingdom of France in Gaul. The Romans, however, still main- 
tained their authority in the interior of that province, and the 
brave jEtius their general made head against all those hordes 
of barbarians who disputed with him the dominion of Gaul. 

It was at this crisis that the Huns made their appearance on 
the theatre of war. The fierce Attila, a man of great military 
talents, after having overthrown various states, conquered Pan- 
nonia, and different provinces of the Eastern empire on the right 
bank of the Danube, undertook his famous expedition into Gaul. 
Marching along the Danube from Pannonia, at the head of an 
innumerable army,^ he passed the Rhine near the Lake of Con- 
stance, pillaged and ravaged several places, and spread the terror 
of his arms over all Gaul. The Franks and the Visigoths united 
their forces with those of the Roman General, to arrest the 
progress of the barbarian. A bloody and obstinate encounter 
took place (451,) on the plains of Chalons-sur-Marne, or Mery- 
sur-Seine, according to others. Thierry, King of the Visigoths, 
and more than a hundred and sixty thousand men, perished on 
the field of battle. Night separated the combatants ; and Attila, 
who found his troops too much exhausted to renew the combat, 
resolved to retreat. The following year he made a descent 
on Italy, and committed great devastations. This proved his 
last expedition ; for he died suddenly on his return, and the 
monarchy of the Huns expired with him. 

The defeat of the Huns did not re-establish the shattered and 
ruinous affairs of the Romans in Gaul. The Salian Franks,^ 
under their kings, Meroveus and Childeric I., the successors of 
Clodion, extended their conquests more and more ; till at length 
(Uovis, son of Childeric 1., put an end to the dominion of the 
Romans in that country, by the victory which he gained in 486, 
at Soissons, over Syagrius, the last of the Roman generals, who 



li 

j! 

I 

!! 
1 1 



i ! 
M 
1 



!i 



46 CHAPTER lU 

died of a broken heart in consequence of this defeat. The Ale* 
manns afterwards having disputed with him the empire of the 
Gauls, he routed them completely (496,) at the famous battle of 
Tolbiac or Zulpich ;' seized their estates, and soon after em- 
braced Christianity. Emboldened by his new creed, and backed 
by the orthodox bishops, he attacked the Visigoths, who were 
of the heretical sect of Arius, defeated and killed their king, 
Alaric II., in the plains of Vougle, near Poitiers, (507,) and 
stripped them of all their possessions between the Loire and the 
Pyrenees.'" Gaul became thus, by degrees, the undisputed 
possession of the Franks. The descendants of CJovis added to 
their conquests the kingdom of the Burgundians (534,) which 
they totally overthrew. 

These same princes increased their possessions in the interioi 
of Germany, by the destruction of the powerful kingdom of the 
Thuringians (531,) comprising those vast countries between the 
Werra, the Aller, the Elbe, the Saal, the Mulda, and the Danube ; 
and which are now known under the names of Saxony, Thu- 
ringia, Franconia, the Upper Palatinate," &c. This kingdom 
they divided with their allies the Saxons, who obtained the nor- 
thern part of it, situated between the Unstrut and the Saal. 

While the Visigoths, the Burgundians, the Franks and the 
Alemanns, were disputing with each other the conquest of Gaul, 
the Vandals, the Suevi, and the Alans, turned their ambitious 
views towards Spain. After having settled some years in Gaul, 
these tribes passed the Pyrenees (409,) to establish themselves 
in the most fertile regions of Spain. The Vandals seized Boe- 
tica, and a part of Gallicia ; the Suevi seized the rest of Gal- 
licia ; while the Alans took possession of Lusitania, and the 
province of Carthagena. The Alans afterwards submitted to 
the sway of Gonderic, King of the Vandals (420,) while the 
Suevi preserved their native princes, who reigned in Gallicia 
and Lusitania ; this latter province having been abandoned by 
the Vandals, (427,) when they passed into Africa. 

Meanwhile new conquerors began to make their appearance 
in Spain. The Visigoths, pressed by the Romans in Gaul, 
took the resolution of carrying their arms beyond the Pyrenees. 
Under the conduct of their King, Adolphus, they made them- 
selves masters of the city of Barcelona (in 415.) Euric, one of 
the successors of this prince, took from the Romans (472) all 
that yet remained of their possessions in Spain ; and Leovigild, 
another of their kings, completed the conquest of all that coun- 
try (584,) by reducing the kingdom of the Suevi. The mo- 
narchy of the Visigoths, which in its flourishing state comprised, 
besides the continent of Spain, Septimania or Languedoc in 



! 



PERIOD I. A. D. 406—800. 47 

Gaul, and Mauritania Tingitana in Africa, maintained its exist- 
ence until the commencement of the eighth century ; when, as 
we shall afterwards see, it was finally overthrown by the Arabs. 

Northern Africa, one of the finest possessions of the Romans, 
was wrested from them by the Vandals. Count Boniface, who 
had the government of that country, having been falsely accused 
at the court of the Emperor Valentinian III., and believing him- 
self ruined in the esteem of that prince, invited the Vandals over 
to Africa; proposing to them the surrender of the province? 
intrusted to his command. Genseric was at that time king of 
the Vandals. The preponderance which the Visigoths had ac- 
quired in Spain, induced that prince to accept the offer of the 
Roman General; he embarked at the port of Andalusia, (427,) 
and passed with the Vandals and the Alans into Africa. Mean- 
time, Boniface having made up matters amicably with the Impe- 
rial court, wished to retract the engagements which he had 
made with the Vandals. Genseric nevertheless persisted in his 
'enterprise. He carried on a long and obstinate war with the 
Romans; the result of which turned to the advantage of the 
barbarians. Genseric conquered in succession all that part of 
Africa pertaining to the Western empire, from the Straits of 
Cadiz as far as Cyrenaica, which was dependent on the empire 
of the East. He subdued likewise the Balearic Isles, with 
Sardinia, Corsica and a part of Sicily. 

The writers of that age who speak of this invasion, agree in 
painting, in the most lively colours, the horrors with which it 
was accompanied. It appears that Genseric, whose whole sub- 
jects, including old men and slaves, did not exceed eighty thou- 
sand persons, being resolved to maintain his authority by terror, 
caused, for this purpose, a general massacre to be made of the 
ancient inhabitants of Africa. To these political severities were 
added others on the score of religion ; being devoted with all 
his subjects to the Arian heresy, he as well as his successors 
became the constant and implacable persecutors of the orthodox 
Christians. 

This prince signalized himself by his maritime exploits, and 
by the piracies which he committed on the coasts of Italy and 
the whole Roman empire. Encouraged, as is supposed, by the 
Empress Eudoxia, who wished to avenge the death of her hus- 
band Valentinian III., he undertook an expedition into Italy, 
(455,) in which he made himself master of Rome. The city 
was pillaged during fifteen days by the Vandals, spoiled of all 
its riches and its finest monuments. Innumerable statues, orna- 
ments of temples, and the gilded cupola of the temple of Jupiter 
Capitolinus, were removed in order to be transported to Africa ; 



48 OlIAPTER 11. 

together with many thousands of illustrious captives, A vessel 
loaded with the most precious monuments of Rome, perished 
in the passage. 

The dominion of the Vandals in Africa lasted about a hundred 
yeart). Their kingdom was destroyed by the Emperor Justinian, 
who reunited Africa to the empire of the East. Gilimer, the 
last king of the Vandals, was conquered by Belisarius, (534,) 
and conducted by him in triumph to Constantinople. 

Britain, inaccessible by its situation to most of the invaders 
that overran the Western empire, was infested, in the fifth cen- 
tury, by the northern inhabitants of that island, — the free Britons, 
known by the nanne of Caledonians or Picts, and Scots. The 
Romans having withdrawn their legions from the island (446,) 
to employ them in Gaul, the Britons, abandoned to their own 
strength, thought proper to elect a king of their own nation, 
named Vortigern ; but finding themselves still too weak to resist 
the incursions of the Picts and Scots, who, breaking over the 
wall of Severus, pillaged and laid waste the Roman province, 
they took the imprudent resolution of calling in to their succour 
the Angles, Saxons, and Jullanders, who were already dis- 
tinguished for their maritime incursions. A body of these An- 
glo-Saxons arrived in Britain (450,) in the first year of the reign 
of the Emperor Marcian, under the command of Hengist and 
Horsa. From being friends and allies, they soon became ene- 
mies of the Britons ; and ended by establishing their own do- 
minion in the island. The native islanders, after a protracted 
struggle, were driven into the province of Wales, where they 
succeeded in maintaining their independence against their new 
conquerors. A number of these fugitive Britons, to escape 
from the yoke of the mvaders, took refuge in Gaul. There 
they were received by the Franks into Armorica and part of Ly- 
onnois, to which they gave the name of Brittany. 

The Anglo-Saxons founded successively seven petty king- 
doms in Britain, viz. Kent, Sussex, Wessex, Essex, Northum- 
berland, East Anglia, and Mercia. Each of these kingdoms 
had severally their own kings ; but they were all united in a 
political association, known by the name of the Heptarchy. 
One of the seven kings was the common chief of the confede- 
racy ; and there was a general convention of the whole, called 
wit tena gemot, or the assembly of the wise men. Each king- 
dom was likewise governed by its own laws, and had its sej)a- 
late assemblies, whose power limited the royal authority. 
This federal system continued till the ninth century, when Eg- 
tert the Great succeeded in abolishing the Heptarchy (827,1 and 
raised himself to be King over all England 



PERIOD I. A. D. 406 — 800. 49 

In the midst of this general overthrow, there were still to he 
seen in Italy the phantoms of the Roman emperors, feebly sup- 
porting a dignity which had long since lost its splendour. This 
fine country had been desolated by the Visigoths, the Huna, 
and the Vandals, in succession, without becoming the fixed re- 
sidence of any one of these nations. The conquest of that an- 
cient seat of the first empire in the world, was reserved for the 
Heruls and the Rugians. For a long time, these German na- 
tions, who are generally supposed to have emigrated from the 
coasts of the Baltic Sea, had been approaching towards the 
Danube. They served as auxiliaries to the Romans in Italy, 
after the example of various other tribes of their countrj'men. 
Being resolved to usurp the dominion of that country, they 
chose for their king Odoacer, under whose conduct they seized 
Ravenna and Rome, dethroned Romulus Momyllus Augusta- 
lus, the last of the Roman Emperors (476,) and put an entire 
end to the empire of the West. 

The Heruls did not enjoy these conquests more than seven- 
teen years, when they were deprived of them in their turn by 
the Ostrogoths. This nation then occupied those extensive 
countries on the right bank of the Danube, in Pannonia, Illy- 
ria, and Thrace, within the limits of the Eastern empire. They 
had rendered themselves formidable to the Romans in that 
quarter, by their frequent incursions into the very heart of the 
empire. The Emperor Zeno, in order to withdraw these dan- 
gerous neighbours from his frontiers, encouraged their king 
Theodoric, as is alleged, to undertake the conquest of Italy 
from the Heruls. This prince immediately penetrated into the 
country ; he defeated the Heruls in several actions ; and at 
length forced Odoacer to shut himself up in the city of Ravenna 
(489,) where, after a siege of three years, he fell into the hands of 
the conqueror, who deprived him at once of his throne and his life. 
Theodoric deserves not to be confounded with the other bar- 
barous kings of the fifth century. Educated at the court of 
Constantinople, where he passed the years of his youth, he had 
learned to establish his authority by the equity of his laws, 
and the wisdom of his administrations. He ruled an empire 
which, besides Italy, embraced a great part of Pannonia, Rhetia. 
Noricum, and Illyria. 

This monarchy, formidable as it was, did not exist beyond 
the space of sixty years : after a sanguinary warfare of eigh- 
teen years, it was totally subverted by the Greeks. The Em- 
peror Justinian employed his generals, Belisarius " and Nai- 
ses, in recovenng Italy and Sicily from the hands of the Goths. 
This nation defended their possessions with determined obsti- 

4 



50 CHAPTER II. 

nacy. Encouraged by Totila, one of their last kings, they 
maintained a protracted struggle against the Greeks, and with 
considerable success. It was during this war that the city of 
Rome was pillaged afresh, and at length (517,) dismantled by 
the Goths. Totila sustained a complete defeat at the foot of 
the Apennines in Umbria (552,) and died of the wounds which 
he had received in the action. His successor Teias was by no 
means so fortunate in military affairs. In a bloody battle which 
he fought with Narses, in Campania (553,) he was vanquished 
and slain. His dominions passed into the hands of the Greeks, 
with the exception of that part of Rhetia and Noricum which 
the Alemanns occupied, and which, during the war between the 
Greeks and the Goths, had become the possession of the Franks. " 

A new revolution happened in Italy, (56S,) by the invasion 
of the Lombards. This people, who originally inhabited the 
northern part of Germany on the Elbe, and formed a branch 
of the great nation of the Suevi, had at length fixed themselves 
in Pannonia (527,) after several times changing their abode. 
They then joined with the Avars, an Asiatic people, against the 
Gepidse, who possessed a formidable dominion in ancient Dacia, 
on the left bank of the Danube. This state was soon over- 
turned by the combined forces of the two nations, and the whole 
territories of the Gepidse passed (565) under the dominion of 
the Avars. The Lombards also abandoned to them their pos- 
sessions in Pannonia, and went in quest of new settlements 
into Italy. It was in the spring of 568 that they began theii 
route, under the conduct of their King Alboin, who, without 
coming to regular combat with the Greeks, took from them, in 
succession, a great number of cities and provinces. Pavia 
which the Goths had fortified with care, was the only town 
that opposed him with vigorous resistance ; and it did not sur- 
render till after a siege of three years, in 572. The Lombard 
kings made this town the capital of their new dominions, which, 
besides Upper Italy, known more especially by the name of 
Lombardy, comprehended also a considerable part of the middle 
and lower districts, which the Lombards gradually wrested 
from the Greeks. 

The revolution of which we have just now given a summary 
view, changed the face of all Europe; but it had a more par- 
ticular influence on the fate of ancient Germany. The Ger- 
manic tribes, whose former boundaries were the Rhine and the 
Danube, now extended their territories beyond these rivers. 
The primitive names of those nations, recorded by Tacitus, fell 
mto oblivion, and were replaced by those of five or six grand 
ponfederatious, viz. the Franks, Saxons. Frisians, Alemanns, 



PERIOD I. A. D. 406—800. m 

Suabians, and Bavarians,^'* which embraced all the regions af- 
terwards comprehended under the name of Germany. 

The Alemanns, and their neighbours the Suabians, occupied, 
along with the Bavarians, the greater part of what is called 
Upper Germany, on both sides of the Danube as far as the Alps. 
The Franks, masters of a powerful monarchy in Gaul, preserved, 
under their immediate dominion beyond the Rhine, a part of 
ancient France, together with the territories of which they had 
deprived the Alemanns'^ and the Thuringians. In short, in 
all Lower Germany, no other names were to be found than 
those of the Thuringians, Saxons, and Frisians ; and as to the 
eastern part, situated beyond the Saal and the Elbe, as it had 
been deserted of inhabitants by the frequent emigrations of the 
German tribes, and by the total destruction of the kingdom of 
the Thuringians, it was seized in turn by the Slavi, or Slavo- 
nians, a race distinguished from the Germans by their language 
and their manners. 

This nation, diflferent colonies of which still occupy a great 
part of Europe, did not begin to figure in history until the 
fourth century of the Christian era. Jornandes, a Gothic writer 
of the sixth century, is the first author who mentions them. 
He calls them Slavi, or Slavina ; and distinguishes them into 
three principal branches, the Venedi, the Slavi, and the Antes, 
whose numerous tribes occupied the vast countries on the north 
of the Euxine Sea, between the Vistula, the Niester, the Nie- 
per, &c. It was after the commencement of the sixth century 
that these nations emigrated from their ancient habitations, and 
spread themselves over the east and south of Europe. On the 
one side, they extended their colonies as far as the Elbe and 
the Saal; on the other, they crossed the Danube, and penetra- 
ted into Noricum, Pannonia, and Illyria; occupying all those 
countries known at this day under the names of Hungary, 
Sclavonia, Servia, Bosnia, Croatia, Dalmatia, Carniola, Carin- 
thia, Stiria, and the march of the Venedi. The history of the 
sixth century, presents nothing more memorable than the bloody 
wars which the emperors of the East had to maintain against 
the Slavians of the Danube. 

Those colonies of them who first distinguished themselves 
on the Elbe, the Havel, the Oder, and in the countries situated 
to the north of the Danube, were the Czechi, or Slavi of Bo- 
hemia; the Sorabians inhabiting both sides of the Elbe, be- 
tween the Saal and the Oder, in the countries now known under 
the names of Misnia, Saxony, Anhalt and Lower Lusace ; the 
Wilzians, or Welatabes, and the Abotrites, spread over Bran- 
denburg, Pomerania, and Mecklenburg proper ; and, lastly, the 



62 CHAPTER U. 

Moravi, or Moravians, settled in Moravia, and in a part of mo- 
dern Hungary. We find, in the seventh century, a chief named 
Samo, who ruled over many of these nations. He fought suc- 
cessfully against the armies of King Dagobert. It is supposed 
that this man was a Frank merchant, whom several of the Sla- 
vian tribes had elected as their chief. 

There is one thing which, at this period, ought above all to 
fix our attention, and that is the influence which the revolution 
of the fifth century had on the governments, laws, manners, 
sciences, and arts of Europe. The German tribes, in establish- 
ing themselves in the provinces of the Western empire, mtro- 
duced along with them the political institutions by which they 
had been governed in their native country. The governmems 
of ancient Germany were a kind of military democracies, under 
generals or chiefs, with the prerogatives of kings. All matters 
of importance were decided in their general assemblies, com- 
posed of freemen, having the privilege of carrying arms, and 
going to war.'^ The succession to the throne was not heredi- 
tary ; and though it became so in fact in most of the new German 
stales, still, on the accession of their princes, they were atten- 
tive to preserve the ancient forms, which evinced the primitive 
right of election that the nation had reserved to itself. 

The political division into cantons {gaw,) long used in ancient 
Germany, was introduced into all the new conquests of the Gor- 
man tribes, to facilitate the administration of justice. At the 
head of every canton was a justiciary officer, called Grav, in 
Latin Comes, who held his court in the open air, assisted by a 
certain number of assessors or sheriffs. This new division 
caused a total change in the geography of Europe. The ancient 
names of the countries were every where replaced by new ones ; 
and the alterations which the nomenclature of these divisions 
underwent in course of time, created no small embarrassment 
in the study of the history and geography of the middle ages 

Among the freemen who composed the armies of the German 
nations, we find the grandees and nobles, who were distinguisb«v1 
by the number of men-at-arms, or freemen, whom they carried 
in their train. '^ They all followed the king, or common chief, 
of the expedition, not as mercenaries or regular soldiers, but as 
volunteers who had come, of their own accord, to accompany 
him. The booty and the conquests which they made in war, 
they regarded as a common property, to which they had all an 
equal right. The kings, chiefs, and grandees, in the division 
of their territories, received larger portions than the other mili- 
tary and freemen, on account of the greater efTorts they had 
made, and the greater number ol warriors who had followed 



PERIOD I. A. D. 406 — 800. 53 

them to the field. These lands were given them as property 
in every respect free ; and although an obligation was implied 
of their concurring in defence of the common cause, yet it was 
rather a sort of consequence of the territorial grant, and not im- 
posed upon them as a clause, or essential condition of the tenure. 

It is therefore wrong to regard this division of lands as having 
given rise to fiefs. War was the favourite occupation, the only 
honourable rank, and the inalienable prerogative of a German. 
They were soldiers not of necessity or constraint, but of their 
own free will, and because they despised every other employ- 
ment, and every other mode of life. Despotism was, therefore, 
never to be apprehended in a government like this, where the 
great body of the nation were in arms, sat in their general as- 
semblies, and marched to the field of war. Their kings, how- 
ever, soon invented an expedient calculated to shackle the 
national liberty, and to augment their own influence in the pub- 
lic assemblies, by the number of retainers which they found 
means to support. This expedient, founded on the primitive 
manners of the Germans, was the institution of fiefs. 

It was long a custom among the ancient Germans, that their 
chiefs should have, in peace as well as in war, a numerous suite 
of the bravest youths attached to their person. Besides provi- 
sions, they supplied them with horses and arms, and shared with 
them the spoil which they took in war. This practice subsisted 
even after the Germans had established themselves in the pro- 
vinces of the Western Empire. The kings, and, after their 
example, the nobles, continued to entertain a vast number of 
companions and followers ; and the better to secure their alle- 
giance, they granted them, instead of horses and arms, the enjoy- 
ment of certain portions of land, which they dismembered from 
their own territories. 

These grants, known at first by the name of benefices, and 
afterwards ofjiefs, subjected those who received them to personal 
services, and allegiance to the superiors of whom they held 
them. As they were bestowed on the individual possessor, and 
on the express condition of personal services, it is obvious that 
originally fiefs or benefices were not hereditary; and that they 
returned to the superior, when the reason for which they had 
been given no longer existed. 

The laws and jurisprudence of the Romans were in full prac- 
tice through all the provinces of the Western Empire, when the 
German nations established themselves there. Far from super- 
seding or abolishing them, the invaders permitted the ancient 
inhabitants, and such of their new subjects as desired it, to hve 
conformably to these laws, and to retain them in their courts of 



t 

!i 



i 



54 CHAPTER n, 

justice. Nevertheless, without adopting this system of juris- 
prudence, which accorded neither with the rudeness of their 
manners, nor the imperfection of their ideas, they took great 
care, after their settlement in the Roman provinces, to have their 
ancient customs, to which they were so peculiarly attached, di- 
gested and reduced to writing. 

The Codes of the Salian and Ripuarian Franks, those of the 
Visigoths, the Burgundians, the Bavarians, the Anglo-Saxons, 
the Frisians, the Alemanns, and the Lombards, were collected 
into one body, and liberty given to every citizen to be governed 
according to that code of laws which he himself might choose. 
All these laws wore the impress of the military spirit of the 
Germans, as well as of their attachment to that personal liberty 
and independence, which is the true characteristic of human 
nature in its primitive state. According to these laws, every 
person was judged by his peers ; and the right of vengeance 
was reserved to the individuals, or the whole family, of those 
who had received injuries. Feuds, which thus became heredi- 
tary, were not however irreconcilable. Compromise was allow- 
ed for all private delinquencies, which could be expiated, by 
paying to the injured party a specified sum, or a certain number 
of cattle. Murder itself might be expiated in this manner ; and 
every part of the body had a tax or equivalent, which was more 
or less severe, according to the different rank or condition of 
the offenders. 

Every freeman was exempt from corporal punishment; and 
in doubtful cases, the law obliged the judges to refer the parties 
to single combat, enjoining them to decide their quarrel sword 
in hand. Hence, we have the origin of the Judgme7its of God, 
as well as of Challenges and Buels}^ These customs of the 
German nations, and their singular resolution in persisting in 
them, could not but interrupt the good order of society, encou- 
rage barbarism, and stamp the same character of rudeness on all 
their conquests. New wants sprung from new enjoyments 
while opulence, and the contagion of example, taught them to 
contract vices of which they had been ignorant, and which they 
did not redeem by new virtues. Murders, oppressions, and rob- 
beries, multiplied every day ; the sword was made the standard 
of honour, the rule of justice and injustice ; cruelty and perfidy 
became every where the reigning character of the court, the 
nobility and the people. 

Literature, with the arts and sciences, felt above all the bane- 
ful effects of this revolution. In less than a century after the 
first invasion of the barbarians, there scarcely remained a single 
trace of the literature and fine arts of the Romans. Learning, 



PERIOD I. A. D. 406 — 800. 55 

it is true, had for a long time been gradually falling into decay, 
and a corrupt taste had begun to appear among the Romans in 
works of genius and imagination; but no comparison can be 
made between the state of literature, such as it was in the West 
anterior to the revolution of the fifth century, and that Avhich we 
find there after the conquests of the German nations. 

These barbarians, addicted solely to war and the chase, de- 
spised the arts and sciences. Under their destructive hands, 
the finest monuments of the Romans were levelled to the ground ; 
their libraries were reduced to ashes ; their schools and semi- 
naries of instruction annihilated. The feeble rays of learning 
that remained to the vanquished, were unable to enlighten or 
civilize those enemies to knowledge and mental cultivation. 
The sciences, unpatronised and unprotected by those ferocious 
conquerors, soon fell into total contempt. 

It is to the Christian religion alone, which was embraced, in 
succession, by the barbarous destroyers of the empire, that we 
owe the preservation of the mutilated and venerable remains 
which we possess of Greek and Roman literature. ^^ The cler- 
gy, being the authorized teachers of religion, and the only inter- 
preters of the sacred writings, were obliged by their office to 
have some tincture of letters. They thus became, over all the 
East, the sole depositaries of learning ; and for a long series of 
ages, there was nobody in any other rank or profession of life, 
that occupied themselves with science, or had the slightest ac- 
quaintance even with the art of writing. These advantages 
which the clergy enjoyed, contributed in no small degree to 
augment their credit and their influence. Every where they 
were intrusted with the management of state affairs ; and the 
offices of chancellor, ministers, public notaries, and in general, 
all situations where knowledge or the art of writing was indis- 
pensable, v/ere reserved for them ; and in this way their very 
name {clericus) became as it were the synonyme for a man of 
letters, or any person capable of handling the pen. The bish- 
ops, moreover, held the first rank in all political assemblies, and 
in war marched to the field in person, at the head of their vassals. 

Another circumstance that contributed to raise the credit and 
the power of the clergy was, that the Latin language continued 
to be employed in the Roman provinces which had been sub- 
jected to the dominion of the German nations. Every thing 
was written exclusively in the Roman tongue, which became the 
language of the church, and of all public acts ; and it was long 
before the German dialects, which had become universally pre- 
valent, could be reduced to writing. The corrupt pronunciation 
of the Latin, and its mixture with foreign idioms and contsruc- 



56 CHAPTER n. 

tions, gave birth, in course of time, to new languages, which 
still retain evidence of their Roman origin, such as the Italian, 
Spanish, Portuguese, French and English languages. In the 
fifth and following centuries, the Teutonic language, or that 
spoken by the conquerors of Gaul, was called lingua Francica; 
this was distinguished from the lingua Romana, or the language 
spoken by the people ; and which afterwards gave rise to the 
modern French. It appears, therefore, from what we have just 
stated, that the incursion of the German tribes into the provinces 
of the West, was the true source of all the barbarity, ignorance 
and superstition, in which that part of Europe was so long and 
so universally buried. 

There would have been, therefore, every reason to deplore a 
revolution, not less sanguinary in itself than disastrous in its 
consequences, if, on the one hand, it had not been the instru- 
ment of delivering Europe from the terrible despotism of the 
Romans ; and, on the other, if we did not find, in the rude in- 
stitutions of the German conquerors, some germs of liberty^ 
which, sooner or later, were sure to lead the nations of Europe 
to wiser laws, and better organized governments. 

Among the states which rose on the ruins of the Roman em- 
pire, that of the Franks acquired the preponderance ; and, for 
several ages, it sustained the character of being the most pow- 
erful kingdom in Europe. This monarchy, founded by Clovis, 
and extended still more by his successors, embraced the whole 
of Gaul except Languedoc, which belonged to the Visigoths.** 
The greater part of Germany also was subject to it, with the 
exception of Saxony, and the territories of the Slavi. After it 
had fallen into decay, by the partitions and civil wars of the 
descendants of Clovis, it rose again, solely however by the wis- 
dom and ability of the mayors of the palace, who restored it once 
more to its original splendour. 

These mayors, from being originally merely grand-masters of 
the court, rose by degrees to be prime ministers, governors oi 
the state, and ultimately to be kings. The founder of their 
greatness, was Pepin d'Heristal, a cadet of the dynasty of the 
Carlovingians, which succeeded that of the Merovingians, to- 
wards the middle of the eighth century. Under the Merovin- 
gian princes, the sovereignty was divided between two principal 
kingdoms, viz. that of Austrasia, which comprehended East- 
ern France, being all that part of Gaul situated between the 
Meuse, the Scheld, and the Rhine; as well as the German pro- 
vinces beyond the Rhine, which also made a part of that mo- 
narchy. The whole of Western Gaul, lying between the Scheld, 
the Meuse and the Loire, was called Neustria. Burgundy, 



PERIOD I. A. D. 406 — 800. 67 

Aquitain, and Provence, were considered as dependencies of this 
latter kingdom. 

Dagobert II., King of Austrasia, having been assassinated, in 
678, the King of Neustria, Thierry III., would in all probability 
have reunited the two monarchies ; but the Austrasians, who 
dreaded and detested Ebroin, Mayor of Neustria, elected a 
mayor of their own, under the nominal authority of Thierry. 
This gave rise to a sort of civil war between the Austrasians and 
the Neustrians, headed by Pepin Heristal, Mayor of Austrasia, 
and Bertaire, Mayor of Neustria, who succeeded Ebroin. The 
battle which Pepin gained at Testry, near St. Quentin (687,) 
decided the fate of the empire ; Bertaire was slain, and Thierry 
III. fell under the power of the conqueror. Pepin afterwards 
confirmed to Thierry the honours of royalty, and contented him- 
self with the dignity of mayor, and the title of Duke and Prince 
of the Franks ; but regarding the throne as his own by right of 
conquest, he vested in himself the sovereign authority, and 
granted to the Merovingian Prince, nothing more than the mere 
externals of majesty, and the simple title of king. Such Avas 
the revolution that transferred the supreme authority of the 
Franks to a new dynasty, viz. that of the Carlovingians, who 
with great moderation, still preserved, during a period of sixty- 
five years, the royal dignity to the Merovingian princes, whom 
they had stripped of all their power.*' 

Pepin d'Heristal being dead (714,) the partizans of the ancient 
dynasty made a last effort to liberate the Merovingian kings 
from that dependence under which Pepin had held them so long. 
This prince, in transferring the sovereign authority to his grand- 
son Theodwald, only six years of age, had devolved on his 
widow, whose name was Plectrude, the regency and guardian- 
ship of the young mayor. 

A government so extraordinary emboldened the factious to 
attempt a revolution. The regent, as well as her grandson, were 
divested of the sovereignty, and the Neustrian grandees chose 
a mayor of their own party named Rainfroy ; but their triumph 
was only of short durat'on. Charles Martel, natural son of 
Pepin as is supposed, having escaped from the prison where he 
had been detained by the regent, passed into Austrasia, and then 
caused himself to be proclaimed duke, after the example of his 
father. He engaged in a war against Chilperic II. and his mayor 
Rainfroy ; three successive victories which he gained, viz. at 
Stavelo, Vinci near Cambray, and Soissons, in 716-17-18, made 
him once more master of the throne and the sovereign authority. 
The Duke of Aquitain having delivered up King Chilperic to 
him, he confirmed anew the title of royalty to that prince ; and 



68 CHAPTER 11. 

shortly after raised his glory to its highest pitch, by the brilliant 
victories which he gained over the Arabs (732-737,) in the plains 
of Poitiers and Narbonne. 

Pepin le Bref, (or the Short) son and successor of Charles 
Martel, finding his authority established both within and with- 
out his dominions, judged this a favourable opportunity for re- 
uniting the title of royalty to the power of the sovereign. He 
managed to have himself elected King in the General Assem- 
bly of the Franks, which was convened in the Champ-de-Mars, 
in the neighbourhood of Soissons. Childeric III. the last of 
the Merovingian kings, was there deposed (752,) and shut up 
in a convent. Pepin, with the intention of rendering his person 
sacred and inviolable, had recourse to the ceremony of corona- 
tion ; and he was the first King who caused himself to be 
solemnly consecrated and crowned in the Cathedral of Sois- 
sons, by St. Boniface, first archbishop of Mayence.^ The 
example of Pepin was followed soon after by several princes and 
sovereigns of Europe. The last conquest he added to his do- 
minion was the province of Languedoc, which he took (759) 
from the Arabs. 

The origin of the secular power of the Roman pontiffs com- 
mences with the reign of Pepin. This event, which had so 
peculiar an influence on the religion andgovernment of the Euro- 
pean nations, requires to be detailed at some length. 

At the period of which we write, there existed a violent con- 
troversy between the churches in the East, and those in the 
"West, respecting the worship of images. The Emperor Leo 
the Isaurian had declared himself against this worship, and had 
proscribed it by an imperial edict (726.) He and his successors 
persisted in destroying these objects of idolatry, as well as in 
persecuting those who avowed themselves devotees to this 
heresy. This extravagant zeal, which the Roman pontiflS 
blamed as excessive, excited the indignation of the people 
against the Grecian Emperors.^ In Italy, there were frequent 
rebellions against the imperial officers that were charged with 
the execution of their orders. The Romans especially, took 
occasion, from this, to expel the duke or governor, who resided 
in their city on the part of the emperor ; and they formally 
erected themselves into a republic (730,) under the pontificate 
of Gregory II., by usurping all the rights of sovereignty, and, 
at the same time, reviving the ancient names of the senate and 
the Roman people. The Pope was recognised as chief or head 
of this new republic, and had the general direction of all affairs, 
both at home and abroad. The territory of this republic, formed 
of the dutchy of Rome, extended, from north to south, from 



PEKIOD I. A. D. 406—800. 6& 

Viterbo as far as Terracina ; and from east to west, from Narni 
to the mouth of the Tiber. Such was the weakness of the 
Eastern empire, that all the efforts of the emperors to reduce 
the Romans to subjection proved unavailing. The Greek vice- 
roy — the Duke of Naples, who had marched to besiege Rome, 
was killed in battle, together with his son ; and the exarch him- 
self was compelled to make peace with the republicans. 

This state of distress to which the Grecian empire was re- 
duced, afforded the Lombards an opportunity of extending their 
possessions in Italy. Aistolphus their king attacked the city of 
Ravenna (751,) where the exarchs or governors-general of the 
Greeks had fixed their residence ; and soon made himself master 
of it, as well as the province of the exarchate,-^ and the Pen- 
tapolis. The exarch Eutychius was obliged to fly, and took 
shelter in Naples. 

This surrender of the capital of Grecian Italy, emboldened 
the Lombard King to extend his views still farther ; he demanded 
the submission of the city and dutchy of Rome, which he con- 
sidered as a dependency of the exarchate. Pope Stephen II. 
became alarmed, and began to solicit an alliance with the 
Greek empire, whose distant power seemed to him less formi- 
dable than that of the Lombards, his neighbours ; but being 
closely pressed by A.istolphus, and finding that he had no suc- 
cour to expect from Constantinople, he determined to apply for 
protection to the Franks and their King Pepin. 

The Franks, at that time, held the first rank among the na- 
tions of Europe ; their exploits against the Arabians had gained 
them a high reputation fnv valour over all the West. Stephen 
repaired in person to France, and in an interview which he had 
with Pepin, he found means, to in*<irest that prince in his cause. 
Pepin did not yet regard himself as securely established on a 
throne which he had so recently usurped from the Merovingian 
princes ; more especially as there still existed a son of Childeric 
III., named Thierry, and a formidable rivalry in the puissant 
dukes of Aquitain, who were cadets of the same family. He 
had no other right to the crown than that of election ; and this 
title, instead of descending to his sons, might perhaps serve as 
a pretext for depriving them of the sovereignty. Anxious to 
render the crown hereditary, he induced the Pope to renew the 
ceremony of his coronation in the Church of St. Denis ; and, 
at the same time, to consecrate his two sons, Charles and Car- 
loman. The Pope did more ; he disengaged the King from the 
oath which he had taken to- Childeric, and bound all the nobility 
of the Franks, that were present on the occasion, in the name 
of Jesus Christ and St. Peter, to preserve the royal dignity in 



(K) CHAPTER n. 

the right of Pepin and his descendants; and lastly, that he 
might the more effectually secure the attachment of Pepin and 
his sons, and procure for himself the title of being their pro- 
tector, he publicly conferred on them the honour of being patri- 
cians of Rome. 

So great condescension on the part of the Pope could not but 
excite the gratitude of Pepin. He not only promised him suc- 
cour against the Lombards ; he engaged to recover the exarchate 
from their hands, and make a present of it to the Holy See : 
he even made him a grant of it by anticipation, which he signed 
at the Castle of Chiersi-sur-1'Oise, and which he likewise caused 
to be signed by the princes his sons.'^ It was in fulfilment of 
these stipulations that Pepin undertook (755-56) two successive 
expeditions into Italy. He compelled Aistolphus to acknowledge 
himself his vassal, and deliver up to him the exarchate with 
the Pentapolis, of which he immediately put his Holiness in 
possession. This donation of Pepin served to confirm and to 
extend the secular power of the Popes, which had already been 
augmented by various grants of a similar kind. The original 
document of this singular contract no longer exists ; but the 
names of the places are preserved which were ceded to the 
pontifical hierarchy.^ 

In the conclusion of this period, it may be proper to take some 
notice of the Arabs, commonly called Saracens," and of their 
irruption into Europe. Mahomet, an Arab of noble birth, and 
a native of Mecca, had constituted himself a prophet, a legisla 
tor, and a conqueror, about the beginning of the seventh century 
of the Christian era. He had been expelled from Mecca (622) 
on account of his predictions, but afterwards returned at the 
head of an army ; and having made himself master of the city, 
he succeeded by degrees, in subjecting to his yoke the numerous 
tribes of Arjfbia. His successors, known by the name of Ca- 
liphs, or vicars spiritual and temporal of the prophet, followed 
the same triumphant career. They propagated their religion 
wherever they extended their empire, and overran with their 
conquests the vast regions both of Asia and Africa. Syria, 
Palestine, Egypt, Barca, Tripoli, and the whole northern coasts 
of Africa, were won from the Greek empire by the Caliphs; 
who at the same time (651) overthrew the powerful monarchy 
of the Persians; conquered Charasm, Transoxiana, and the In- 
dies, and founded an empire more extensive than that of the 
Romans had been. The capital of the Caliphs, which had ori- 
ginally been at Medina, and afterwards at Cufa, wa? transferred 
(661) by the Caliph Moavia I. to Damascus in Syria; and by 
the Caliph Almanzor, to Bagdad in Irak-Arabia, (766) which 
was founded bv that prince. 



PERIOD 1. A. D. 406—800. 61 

It was under the Caliphate of Walid (711,) that the Arabs 
first invaded Europe, and attacked the monarchy of the Visigoths 
ill Spain. This monarchy had already sunk under the feeble- 
ness of its kings, and the despotic prerogatives which the gran- 
dees, and especially the bishops, had arrogated to themselves. 
These latter disposed of the throne at their pleasure, having 
declared it to be elective. They decided with supreme authority 
in the councils of the nation, and in all affairs of state. Muza 
at that time commanded in northern Africa, in name of the Ca- 
liph Walid. By the authority of that sovereign, he sent into 
Spain one of his generals, named Taric or Tarec-Abenzara, 
who, having made a descent on the coasts of Andalusia, took 
his station on the hill which the ancients called Calpe, and which 
has since been known by the name of Gibraltar (Gibel-Taric,) 
or the hill of Taric, in commemoration of the Arabian general. 

It was in the neighbourhood of the city Xeres de la Frontera, 
in Andalusia, that Taric encountered the army of the Visigoths, 
commanded by their King Roderic. The battle was decisive, 
as the Visigoths sustained a total defeat. Roderic perished in 
the flight; and Muza, the Arabian governor, having arrived to 
second the efforts of Taric, the conquest of all Spain followed 
as a consequence of this victory.^ Septimania, or Languedoc, 
which then made a part of the Visigothic monarchy, passed at 
the same time under the dominion of the Arabs. 

These fierce invaders did not limit their conquests in Europ^ 
to Spain and Languedoc j the Balearic Isles, Sardinia, Corsica, 
part of Apulia and Calabria, fell likewise under their dominion : 
they infested the sea with their fleets, and more than once car- 
ried terror and desolation to the very gates of Rome. It is pro- 
bable even that all Europe would have submitted to their yoke, 
if Charles Martel had not arrested the career of their victories. 
He defeated their numerous and warlike armies in the bloody 
battles which were fought near Poitiers and Narbonne (732- 
737,) and at length compelled them to shut themselves up 
within the province of Languedoc. 

The unity of the empire and the religion of Mahomet, did 
not long remain undivided. The first dynasty of the Caliphs, 
that of the Ommiades, was subverted; and all the princes of 
that family massacred by the Abassides (749,) who seized the 
caliphate.'^ A solitary descendant of the Ommiades, named Ab- 
dalraham, grandson of the fifteenth Caliph Huscham, was 
saved in Spain, and fixed his residence at Cordova ; and beina 
acknowledged as Caliph by the Mussulmans there, he detached 
that province from the great empire of the Arabians. ^756.) 

This revolution, and the confusion with which it was accom- 



! 
i 



62 CHAPTER n. 

panied, gave fresh courage to the small number of Visigoths, 
who, to escape the Mahometan yoke, had retired to the moun- 
tains of Asturias. Issuing from their retreats, they retaliated 
on the Infidels ; and towards the middle of the eighth century, 
they laid the foundation of a new Christian state, called after- 
wards the kingdom of Oviedo or Leon. Alphonso I., sur- 
named the Catholic, must be regarded as the first founder of 
this new monarchy.^"* 

The Franks, likewise, took advantage of these events, to ex- 
pel the Arabs from Languedoc. Pepin took possession of the 
cities of Nismes, Maguelonne, Agde, and Beziers (752,) which 
were delivered up to him by a noble Goth, named Osmond. 
The reduction of Narbonne was by no means so easy a task. 
For seven years he continued to blockade it; and it was not 
until 759 that he became master of the city, and the whole of 
Languedoc. 

The loss of Spain, on the part of the Abassides, was soon 
after followed by that of Northern Africa. Ibrahim Ben-Aglab, 
having been sent thither as governor by the Caliph of Bagdad, 
Haroun Alrashid (800,) he found means to constitute himsell 
sovereign prince over the countries, then properly termed Afri- 
ca ; of which Tripoli, Cairoan, Tunis, and Algiers, formed a 
part. He was the founder of the dynasty of the Aglabites ;^' 
while another usurper, named Edris, having conquered Numi- 
dia and Mauritania, called by the Arabs Mogreb, founded that 
of the Edrissites. These two dynasties were overturned (about 
908) by Aboul Cassem Mohammed, son of Obeidallah, who 
claimed to be descended from Ali, by Fatima, daughter of the 
prophet ; he subjected the whole of Northern Africa to his 
yoke, and took the titles of Mahadi and Caliph. From him 
were descended the Caliphs, called Fatimites, who extended 
their conquests to Egypt, and laid there the foundation of Ka- 
herah, or Grand Cairo (968,) where they established the seat 
of their caliphate, which, in the twelfth contury, was destroyed 
by the Ayoubides. 

The irruption of the Arabs into Spain, disastrous as it was, 
did not fail to produce effects beneficial to Europe, which owes 
its civilization partly to this circumstance. The Abassidian 
Caliphs, aspiring to be the protectors of letters and arts, began 
to found schools, and to encourage translations of the most 
eminent Greek authors into the Arabia language. Their ex- 
ample was followed by the Caliphs of Cordova, and even by 
the Fatimites, who held the sovereignty of Egypt and Northern 
Africa. In this manner a taste for learning was communicated 
to all the Mahometan states. From Bagdad it passed to Cairo ; 



PERIOD 11. A. D. 800—962. 63 

and from the banks of the Euphrates and the Nile, it spread 
itself as far as the Tagus. Mathematics, *' Astronomy, Che- 
mistry, Medicine, Botany, and Materia Medica, were the sci- 
ences which the Arabians affected chiefly to cultivate. They 
excelled also in poetry, and in the art of embodying the fictions 
of imagination in the most agreeable narratives. Rhazes, Aver- 
roes, Avicerma, are among the number of their celebrated phi- 
losophers and physicians. Elmacin, Abulfeda, Abulpharagius, 
and Bohadin, as historians, have become famous to all posterity. 
Thus Spain, under the Mahometans, by cultivating many 
sciences little known to the rest of Europe, became the semi- 
nary of the Christians in the West, who resorted thither in 
crowds, to prosecute in the schools of Cordova the study of 
learning and the liberal arts.^^ The use of the numerical cha- 
racters, the manufacture of paper, cotton, and gun-powder, 
were derived to us from the Arabians, and especially from the 
Arabians of Spain. Agriculture, manufactures, and naviga- 
tion, are all equally indebted to the Arabians. They gave a 
new impulse to the commerce of the Indies ; from the Persian 
Gulf they extended their trade along the shores of the Mediter- 
ranean, and to the borders of the Black Sea. Their carpets, 
and embroideries in gold and silver, their cloths of silk, and their 
manufactures in steel and leather, maintained for years a ce- 
lebrity and a perfection unknown to the other nations of Europe. 



CHAPTER III. 

PERIOD II. 

From Charlemagne to Otho the Great, a. d. 800 — 962. 

The reign of Charles the Great forms a remarkable epoch in 
the history of Europe. That prince, who succeeded his father 
Pepin (768,) eclipsed all his predecessors, by the superiority of 
his genius, as well as by the wisdom and vigour of his admin- 
istration. Under him the monarchy of the Franks was raised 
to the highest pinnacle of glory. He would have been an ac- 
complished prince, and worthy of being commemorated as the 
benefactor of mankind, had he known how to restrain his im- 
moderate thirst for conquest. 

He carried his victorious arms into the centre of Germany; 
and subdued the warlike nation of the Saxons, whose territories 
extended from the Lower Rhine, to the Elbe and the Baltic 
sea. After a bloody w^ar of thirty-three years, he compelled 
thern to receive his yoke, and to embrace Christianity, by the 



64 CHAPTEE III. 

peace which he concluded with them (803) at Saltz on the 
Saal. The bishoprics of Munster, Osnaburg, Minden, Pader- 
born, Verden, Bremen, Hildesheim, and Halberstadt, owe their 
origin to this prince. Several of the Slavonian nations, the 
Abotrites (789,) the Wilzians (805,) the Sorabians (806,) the 
Bohemians (811,) &c., acknowledged themselves his tributaries; 
and by a treaty of peace which he concluded with Hemming, 
King of Jutland, he fixed the river Eyder, as the northern 
limit of his empire against the Danes. Besides these, the 
powerful monarchy of the Avars,' which comprehended all the 
countries known in modern times by the names of Austria, 
Hungary, Transylvania, Sclavonia, Dalmatia and Croatia, was 
completely subverted by him (791 ;) and he likewise despoiled 
the Arabians of all that part of Spain which is situated between 
the Pyrenees and the Ebro (796,) as also of Corsica, Sardinia, 
and the Balearic Isles. In Spain he established military com- 
manders under the title of Margraves. 

Of these conquests, the one that deserves the most particu- 
lar attention is that of Italy, and the kingdom of the Lombards. 
At the solicitation of Pope Adrian I., Charles undertook an ex- 
pedition against the/ last of the Lombard kings. He besieged 
that prince in his capital at Pavia; and having made him pri- 
soner, after a long siege, he shut him up in confinement for the 
rest of his days, and incorporated his dominions with the mo- 
narchy of the Franks. The Dukes of Benevento, who, as 
vassals of the Lombard kings, then occupied the greater part of 
Lower Italy, were at the same time compelled to acknowledge 
the sovereignty of the conquerors, who allowed them to exer- 
cise their hereditary rights, on condition of their paying an 
annual tribute. The only places in this part of Italy that re- 
mained unsubdued, were the maritime towns, of which the 
Greeks still found means to maintain the possession. 

In order to secure the conquest of this country, as well as to 
protect it against the incursions of the Arabians, Charles estab- 
lished several marches and military stations, such as the 
marches of Friult, Tarento, Turin, Liguira, Teti, &c. The 
downfall of the Lombards, put an end to the republican govern- 
ment of the Romans. During the blockade of Pavia, Charles 
having gone to Rome to be present at the feast of Easter (774,) 
was received there with all the honours due to an Exarch 
and a Patrician ; and there is incontestable proof that he after- 
wards received, under that title, the rights of sovereignty over 
Rome and the Ecclesiastical States. 

The Patrician dignity, instituted by Constantine the Great, 
ranked, in the Greek empire, next after that of emperor. It was 




Rome plundered by the Vandals. P. 47. 




Anglo-Saxons landing in England. P. 48. 



PERIOD II. A. D. 800—962. 65 

of such consideration, that even barbarian kings, the destroyers 
of the ancient Roman empire in the West, became candidates 
for this honour at the Court of Constantinople. The exarchs 
of Ravenna were generally invested with it, and exercised under 
this title, rather than that of exarch or governor, the authority 
which they enjoyed at Rome. Pope Stephen II. had, twenty 
years before, conferred the patriciate on Pepin and his sons j 
although these princes appear never to have exercised the right, 
regarding it merely as an honorary title, so long at least as the 
kingdom of the Lombards separated them from Rome and the 
States of the Church. Charles no sooner saw himself master 
of that kingdom, than he affected to add to his titles of King of 
the Franks and Lombards that of Patrician of the Romans ; and 
began to exercise over Rome and the Ecclesiastical States those 
rights of supremacy which the Greek emperors and exarchs had 
enjoyed before him. 

This prince returned to Rome towards the end of the year 
800, in order to inquire into a conspiracy which some of the 
Roman nobility had concerted against the life of Pope Leo III. 
The whole affair having been discussed in his presence, and 
the innocence of the Pope clearly established, Charles went to 
assist at the solemn mass which was celebrated in St. Peter's 
Church on Christmas day (800.) The Pope, anxious to show 
him some public testimony of his gratitude, chose the moment 
when the prince was on his knees at the foot of the grand altar, 
to put the imperial crown on his head, and cause him to be pro- 
claimed to the people Emperor of the Romans. 

From this affair must be dated the revival of the Roman Em- 
pire in the West, — a title which had been extinct for three hun- 
dred years. The emperors of the East who, during that inter- 
val, had continued exclusively in the enjoyment of that titles 
appeared to have some reason for opposing an innovation which 
might eventually become prejudicial to them. The contest 
which arose on this subject between the two emperors, was at 
length (803) terminated by treaty. The Greek emperors recog- 
nised the new dignity of Charles (812 ;) and on these conditions 
they were allowed to retain those possessions, which they still 
held by a feeble tenure in Italy. 

In thus maintaining the imperial dignity against the Greek 
emperors, Charles added nothing to his real power ; he acquired 
from it no new right over the dismembered provinces of the 
Western empire, the state of which had, for a long time past, 
been fixed by specific regulations. He did not even augment 
his authority over Rome, where he continued to exercise the 

5 



66 CHAPTER 111. 

same rights of superiority under the title of emperor, which he 
had formerly done under that of patrician. 

This prince, whose genius soared beyond his age, did not 
figure merely as a warrior and a conqueror ; he was also a le- 
gislator, and a zealous patron of letters. By the laws which he 
published under the title of Capitularies, he reformed several 
abuses, and introduced new ideas of order and justice. Com- 
missioners nominated by himself, were charged to travel through 
the provinces, to superintend the execution of the laws, listen 
to the complaints of the people, and render justice to each 
without distinction and without partiality. He conceived like- 
wise the idea of establishing a uniformity of weights and mea- 
sures throughout the empire. Some of the laws of that great 
man, however, indicate a disposition tinctured with the barba- 
rism and superstition of his age. The Judgments of God are 
expressly held by him to be legal tests of right and wrong, and 
the greater part of crimes expiable by money. By a general 
law, which he passed in 779, introducing the payment of eccle- 
siastical tithes, and which he extended to the vanquished Saxons 
(791,) he alienated the affections of that people; and the code 
which he dictated on this occasion, is remarkable for its atrocity ; 
which their repeated revolts, and frequent returns to paganism, 
cannot justify. 

As to his patronage and love of letters, this is attested by the 

numerous schools which he founded, and the encouragements 

he held out to them ; as well as the attention he showed in in- 

vitmg to his court, the most celebrated learned men from every 

country in Europe. He formed them into a kind of academy, 

or literary society, of which he was himself a member. When 

at an advanced age, he received instruction in rhetoric, logic 

and astronomy, from the famous Alcuin, an Englishman, to 

whom he was much attached. He endeavoured also to improve 

his vernacular tongue, which was the Teutonic, or lingua 

Francica, by drawing up a grammar of that language, giving 

German names to the months .ind the winds, which had notyei 

received them ; and in making a collection of the military songs 

of the ancient Germans. He extended an equal protection t( 

the arts, more especially architecture, a taste for which he had 

imbibed in Italy and Rome. Writers of those times speak 

with admiration of the palaces and edifices constructed by his 

orders, at Ingelheim, near Mentz, atNimeguen, on the left bank 

of the Waal, and at Aix-la-Chapelle. These buildings were 

adorned with numerous paintings, as well as marble and mosaic 

work, which he had brought from Rome and Ravenna. 

The empire of Charlemagne, which may bear a con^arison 



PERIOD 11. A. D. 800—962. 67 

as to its extent with the ancient empire of the West, embraced 
the principal part of Europe. All Gaul, Germany, and Spain 
as far as the Ebro, Italy to Benevento, several islands in the 
Mediterranean, with a considerable part of Pannonia, composed 
this vast empire, which, from west to east, extended from the 
Ebro to the Elbe and the Raab ; and from south to north, from 
the dutchy of Benevento and the Adriatic Sea to the River Ey- 
der, which formed the boundary between Germany and Denmark. 

In defining the limits of the empire of Charlemagne, care 
must be taken not to confound the provinces and states incor- 
porated with the empire with those that were merely tributary. 
The former were governed by officers who might be recalled at 
the will of the prince ; while the latter were free states, whose 
only tenure on the empire was by alliance, and the contributions 
they engaged to pay. Such was the policy of this prince, that, 
besides the marches or military stations which he had established 
on the frontiers of Germany, Spain, and Italy, he chose to retain 
on different points of his dominions, nations who, under the 
name of tributaries, enjoyed the protection of the Franks, and 
might act as a guard or barrier against the barbarous tribes of 
the east and north, who had long been in the habit of making 
incursions into the western and southern countries of Europe. 

Thus the dukes of Benevento in Italy, who were simply vas- 
sals and tributaries of the empire, supplied as it were a rampart 
or bulwark against the Greeks and Arabians ; while the Scla- 
vonian nations of Germany, Pannonia, Dalmatia, and Croatia, 
though feudatories or vassals of France, were governed, never- 
theless, by their own laws, and in general did not even profess 
the Christian religion. 

From this brief sketch of the reign of Charlemagne, it is easy 
to perceive, that there was then no single power in Europe for- 
midable enough to enter into competition with the empire of the 
Franks. The monarchies of the north, Denmark, Norway, and 
Sweden, and those of Poland and Russia, were not then in ex- 
istence ; or had not emerged from the thick darkness that still 
covered those parts of continental Europe. England then pre- 
sented a heptarchy of seven confederate governments, the union 
of v/hich was far from being well consolidated. The kings of 
this confederacy were incessantly engaged in war with each 
other ; and it was not until several years after Charlemagne, 
that Egbert the Great, king of Wessex, prevailing in the contest, 
constituted himself King of all England, in 827. 

The Mahomeie.n part of Spain, after it was separated from 
the great empire of the Caliph's, was engaged in perpetual war- 
fare with the East. The Ommiades, sovereigns of Cordova, 



1 1 



68 CHAPTER m. 

far from provoking their western neighbours, whose valour they 
had already experienced, showed themselves, on the contrary, 
attentive to preserve peace and good understanding with them. 
The Greek emperors, who were continually quarrelling with the 
Arabs and Bulgarians, and agitated by factions and intestine 
commotions, could no longer be an object of suspicion or rivalry 
to the monarchy of the Franks. 

Thus did the empire of Charlemagne enjoy the glory of being 
the ascendant power in Europe ; but it did not long sustain its 
original splendor. It would have required a man of extraordi- 
nary talents, to manage the reins of a government so extensive 
and so complicated. Louis-le-Debonnaire, or the Gentle, the 
son and successor of Charles, did not possess a single qualifi- 
cation proper to govern the vast dominions which his father had 
bequeathed to him. As impolitic as he was weak and super- 
stitious, he had not the art of making himself either loved or 
feared by his subjects. By the imprudent partition of his domi- 
nions between his sons, which he made even in his lifetime, he 
planted with his own hand those seeds of discord in his family, 
which accelerated the downfall of the empire. The civil wars 
which had commenced in his reign continued after his death. 
Louis, surnamed the German, and Charles the Bald, combined 
against their elder brother Lothaire, and defeated him at the fa- 
mous battle of Fontenay in Burgundy (841,) where all the flower 
of the ancient nobil it v perished Louis and Charles, victorious in 
this engagement, oblieed their brother to take refuge in Italy. 
They next marched to Strasbourg, wnere they renewed their alli- 
ance (842,) and confirmed it by oath at the head of their troops.* 

These princes were on the point of dividing the whole mo- 
narchy between them, when, by the interference of the nobility, 
they became reconciled to their elder brother, and concluded a 
treaty with him at Verdun (843,) which finally completed the 
division of the empire. By this formal distribution Lothaire 
retained the imperial dignity, with the kingdom of Italy, and the 
provinces situated between the Rhone, the Saone, the Meuse, 
the S^held, the Rhine, and the Alps. Louis had all Germany 
beyond the Rhine, and on this side of the river, the cantons of 
Mayence, Spire, and Worms ; and, lastly, all that part of Gaul 
which extends from the Scheld, the Meuse, the Saone, and the 
Rhone, to ihe Pyrenees, fell to the lot of Charles, whose division 
also comprehended the March of Spain, consisting of the pro- 
vince of Barcelona, and the territories which Charlemagne had 
conquered, beyond the Pyrenees. 

It is with this treaty, properly speaking, that modem France 
commences, which is but a department of the ancient empire of 



PERIOD II. A. D. 800—962. 69 

the Franks, or monarchy of Charlemagne. For a long time it 
retained the boundaries which the conference at Verdun had 
assigned it ; and whatever it now possesses beyond these limits, 
was the acquisition of conquests which it has made since the four- 
teenth century. Charles the Bald was in fact then the first King 
of France, and it his from him that the series of her kings com- 
mences. It was moreover under this prince that the govern- 
ment of the Neustrians or Western Franks assumed a new 
aspect. Before his time it was entirely of a Frankish or German 
constitution ; the manners and customs of the conquerors of 
Gaul every where predominated ; their language (the lingua 
Francica) was that of the court and the government. But after 
the dismembern)ent of which we have spoken, the Gauls im- 
ported it into Neustria or Western France ; the customs and 
popular language were adopted by the court, and had no small 
influence on the government. This language, which was then 
known by the name of the Roman or Romance, polished by the 
refinements of the court, assumed by degrees a new and purer 
form, and in course of time became the parent of the modern 
French. It was therefore at this period, viz. the reign of 
Charles the Bald, that the We§tern Franks began, properly 
speaking, to be a distinct nation, and exchanged their more 
ancient appellation for that of French; the name by which they 
are still known. 

At this same period Germany was, for the first time, embo- 
died into a monarchy, having its own particular kings. Louis 
the German, was the first monarch of Germany, as Charles the 
Bald was of France. The kingdom of Louis for a long time 
was called Eastern France, to distinguish it from the Western 
kingdom of that name, which henceforth exclusively retained 
the name of France. 

The empire of Charlemagne, which the treaty of Verdun had 
divided, was for a short space reunited (884) under Charles, 
surnamed the Fat, younger son of Louis the German, and King 
of Germany ; but that prince, too feeble to support so great a 
weight, was deposed by his German subjects (887,) and their 
example was speedily followed by the French and the Italians. 
The vast empire of the Franks was thus dismembered for ever 
(888,) and besides the kingdoms of France, Germany, and Italy, 
it gave birth to three new States — the kingdoms of Lorraine, 
Burgundy, and Navarre. 

The kingdom of Lorraine took its name from Lothaire II., 
younger son of the Emperor Lothaire I., who, in the division 
which he made of his estates among his sons (855,) gave to this 
Lothaire the provinces situated between the Rhine, the Meuse, 



70 CHAPTER ra. 

and the Scheld, known since under the name of Lorraine, Al- 
sace, Treves, Cologne, Juliers, Liege, and the Low Countries. 
At the death of Lothaire IL, who left no male or legitimate 
heirs, his kingdom was divided by the treaty of Procaspis (870,) 
into two equal portions, one of which was assigned to Louis 
the German, and the other to Charles the Bald.^ By a subse- 
quent treaty, concluded (879) between the sons of Louis, sur- 
named the Stammerer, King of France, and Louis the Young, 
King of Germany, the French division of Lorraine was ceded 
to this latter prince, who thus reunited the whole of that king- 
dom. It remained incorporated with Germany, at the time when 
the last dismemberment of that monarchy took place, (895,) on 
the deposition of Charles the Fat. Arnulph, King of Germany, 
and successor of Charles, bestowed the kingdom of Lorraine on 
Swentibald his natural son, who after a reign of five years, was 
deposed by Louis, surnamed the Infant, son and successor of 
Arnulph. Louis dying without issue, (912,) Charles the Sim- 
ple, King of France, took advantage of the commotions in Ger- 
many, to put himself in possession of that kingdom, which was 
at length finally reunited to the Germanic crown by Henry, 
surnamed the Fowler. 

Two new kingdoms appeared under the name of Burgundy, 
viz. Provence or Cisjurane Burgundy, and Transjurane Bur- 
gundy. The founder of the former was a nobleman named 
Boson, whose sister Charles the Bald had espoused. Elevated 
by the king, his brother-in-law, to the highest dignities in the 
state, he was created, in succession, Count of Vienna, Duke of 
Provence, Duke of Italy, and Prime Minister, and even obtained 
in marriage the Princess Irmengarde, daughter of Louis IL, 
Emperor and King of Italy. Instigated by this princess, he did 
not scruple to raise his ambitious views to the throne. The 
death of Louis the Stammerer, and the troubles that ensued, 
afforded him an opportunity of attaching to his interest most of 
the bishops in those countries, intrusted to his government. In 
an assembly which he held at Mantaille in Dauphinti, (879,) he 
engaged them by oath to confer on him the royal dignity. The 
schedule of this election, with the signatures of the bishops affix- 
ed, informs us distinctly of the extent of this new kingdom, 
which comprehended Franche-Comte, Ma9on, Chalons-sur-Sa- 
one, Lyons, Vienne and its dependencies, Agde, Viviers, Usez, 
with their dependencies in Languedoc, Provence, and a part of 
Savoy. Boson caused himself to be anointed king at Lyons, 
by the archbishop of that city. He maintained possession of 
his usurped dominions, in spite of the combined efforts which 
were made by the kings of France and Germany to reduce hira 
to subjection. 



PERIOD 11. A. D. 800—962. 71 

The example of Boson was followed soon after by Rodolph, 
governor of Transjurane Burgundy, and related by the female 
side to the Carlovingians. He was proclaimed king, and crown- 
ed at St. Maurice in the Valais ; and his new kingdom, situa- 
ted between Mount Jura and the Penine Alps, contained Swit- 
zerland, as far as the River Reuss, the Valais, and a part of 
Savoy. The death of Boson, happening about this time, fur- 
nished Rodolph with a favourable opportunity of extending his 
frontiers, and seizing a part of the country of Burgundy. 

These two kingdoms were afterwards (930) united into one. 
Hugo, king of Italy, exercised at that time the guardianship of 
the young Constantine, his relation, the son of Louis, and grand- 
son of Boson. The Italians, discontented under the government 
of Hugo, and having devolved their crown on Rodolph II., king 
of Transjurane Burgundy, Hugo, in order to maintain himself 
on the throne of Italy, and exclude Rodolph, ceded to him the 
district of Provence, and the kingdom of his royal ward. Thus 
united in the person of Rodolph, these two kingdoms passed to 
his descendants, viz. Conrad, his son, and Rodolph III., his 
grandson. These princes are styled, in their titles, sometimes 
Kings of Btir gundy ; sometimes Kings of Vienne or Aries; 
sometimes Kings of Provence and Allemania. They lost, in 
course of time, their possessions beyond the Rhone and the 
Saone ; and in the time of Rodolph III., this kingdom had for 
its boundaries the Rhine, the Rhone, the Saone, the Reuss, and 
the Alps. 

Navarre, the kingdom next to be mentioned, known among 
the ancients under the name of Vasconia, was one of the pro- 
vinces beyond the Pyrenees, which Charlemagne had conquered 
from the Arabs. Among the counts or wardens of the Marches, 
called by the Germans Margraves, which he established, the 
most remarkable were those of Barcelona in Catalonia, Jacca 
in Arragon, and Pampeluna in Navarre. All these Spanish 
Marches were comprised within Western France, and within 
the division which fell to the share of Charles the Bald, on the 
dismemberment of that monarchy among the sons of Louis the 
Gentle. The extreme imbecility of that prince, and the calam 
ties of his reign, were the causes why the Navarrese revolted 
from France, and erected themselves into a free and indepen- 
dent state. It appears also, that they were implicated in the 
defection of Aquitain (853,) when it threw off the yoke of 
Charles the Bald. Don Garcias, son of the Count Don Gar- 
cias, and grandson of Don Sancho, is generally reckoned the 
first of their monarchs, that usurped the title of King of Pam- 
peluna, (858.) He and his successors in the kingdom of Na- 



72 CHAPTER in. 

varre, possessed, at the same time, the province of Jacca in 
Arragon. The Counts of Barcelona were the only Spanish 
dependencies that, for many centuries, continued to acknowledge 
the sovereignty of the Kings of France. 

On this part of our subject, it only remains for us to point out 
the causes that conspired to accelerate the downfall of the em- 
pire of the Franks. Among these we may reckon the inconve- 
niences of the feudal system, — a system as unfitted for the pur- 
poses of internal administration, as it was incompatible with the 
maxims that ought to rule a great empire. The abuse of fiefs 
was carried so far by the Franks, that almost all property had 
become feudal ; and not only grants of land, and portions of 
large estates, but governments, dukedoms, and counties, were 
conferred and held under the title of fiefs. The consequence 
of this was, that the great, by the allurement of fiefs or benefices, 
became devoted followers of the kings, while the body of the 
nation sold themselves as retainers of the great. Whoever re- 
fused this vassalage was despised, and had neither favour nor 
honour to expect.* By this practice, the liberty of the subject 
was abridged without augmenting the royal authority. The 
nobles soon became so powerful, by the liberality of their kings, 
and the number of their vassals they found means to procure, 
that they had at length the presumption to dictate laws to the 
sovereign himself. By degrees, the obligations which they 
owed to the state were forgotten, and those only recognised 
which the feudal contract imposed. This new bond of alliance 
was not long in opening a door to licentiousness, as by a natural 
consequence, it was imagined, that the feudal superior might be 
changed, whenever there was a possibility of charging him with 
a violation of his engagements, or of that reciprocal fidelity which 
he owed to his vassals. 

A system like this, not only overturned public order, by plant- 
ing the germs of corruption in every part of the internal admi- 
nistration ; it was still more defective with regard to the external 
operations of government, and directly at variance with all plans 
of aggrandizement or of conquest. As war was carried on by 
means of slaves or vassals only, it is easy to perceive that such 
armies not being kept constantly on foot, were with difficulty put 
in motion ; that they could neither prevent intestine rebellion, 
nor be a protection against hostile invasion ; and that conquests 
made by means of such troops, must be lost with the same faci- 
lity that they are won. A permanent military, fortresses and 
garrisons, such as we find in modern tactics, were altogether 
unknown among the Franks. These politic institutions, indis- 
pensable in great empires, were totally repugnant to the genius 



PERIOD n. A. D. 800—962. 73 

of the German nations. They did not even know what is meant 
by finances, or regular systems of taxation. Their kings had 
no other pecuniary resource than the simple revenues of their 
demesnes, which served for the maintenance of their court. 
Gratuitous donations, the perquisites of bed and lodging, fines, 
the third of which belonged to the king, rights of custom and 
toll, added but little to their wealth, and could not be reckoned 
among the number of state resources. None but tributaries, or 
conquered nations, were subjected to the payment of certain im- 
posts or assessments ; from these the Franks were exempted ; 
they would have even regarded it as an insult and a blow struck 
at their national liberty, had they been burdened with a single 
imposition. 

It is obvious, that a government like this, so disjointed and 
incoherent in all its parts, in spite of the advantages which ac- 
crued to it from nourishing a spirit of liberty, and opposing a 
sort of barrier against despotism, was nevertheless far from being 
suitable to an empire of such prodigious extent as that of the 
Franks. Charlemagne had tried to infuse a new vigour into 
the state by the wise laws which he published, and the military 
stations which he planted on the frontiers of his empire. Raised, 
by the innate force of his genius above the prejudices of the age 
in which he lived, that prince had formed a system capable of 
giving unity and consistency to the state, had it been of longer 
duration. But this system fell to pieces and vanished, when 
no longer animated and put in execution by its author. Disorder 
and anarchy speedily paralyzed every branch of the government, 
and ultimately brought on the dismemberment of the empire. 

Another cause which accelerated the fall of this vast empire, 
was the territorial divisions, practised by the kings, both of the 
Merovingian, and the Carlovingian race. Charlemagne and 
Louis the Gentle, when they ordered the empire to be divided 
among their sons, never imagined this partition would terminate 
in a formal dismemberment of the monarchy. Their intention 
was rather to preserve union and amity, by means of certain 
rights of superiority, which they granted to their eldest sons, 
whom they had invested with the Imperial dignity. But this 
subordination of the younger to their elder brothers was not of 
long continuance ; and these divisions, besides naturally weak- 
ening the state, became a source of perpetual discord ; and 
reduced the Carlovingian princes to the necessity of courtmg 
the grandees, on every emergency , and gaining their interest 
by new gifts, or by concessions which went to sap the founda- 
tion of the throne. 

This exorbitant power of the nobles, must also be reckoned 



74 CHAPTER III. 

among the number of causes that hastened the decline of the 
empire. Dukes and Counts, besides being intrusted with the 
justice and police of their respective governments, exercised, at 
the same time, a military power, and collected the revenues of 
the Exchequer. So many and so different jurisdictions, united 
in one and the same power, could not but become dangerous to 
the royal authority ; while it facilitated to the nobles the means 
of fortifying themselves in their governments, and breaking, by 
degrees, the unity of the state. Charlemagne had felt this in- 
convenience; and he thought to remedy the evil, by succes- 
sively abolishing the great ducchies, and dividing them into 
several counties. Unfortunately this policy was not followed 
out by his successor?, who returned to the ancient practice of 
creating dukes ; and besides, being educated and nurtured in 
superstition by the priests, they put themselves wholly under 
dependence to bishops and ecclesiastics, who thus disposed of 
the slate at their pleasure. The consequence was, that govern- 
ments, at first alterable only by the will of the King, passed 
eventually to the children, or heirs, of those who were merely 
administrators, or superintendents, of them. 

Charles the Bald, first King of France, had the weakness to 
constitute this dangerous principle into a standing law, in the 
parliament which he held at Chiersi (877,) towards the close of 
his reign. He even extended this principle generally to all 
fiefs ; to those that held immediately of the crown, as well as to 
those which held of laic, or ecclesiastical superiors. 

This new and exorbitant power of the nobles, joined to the 
injudicious partitions already mentioned, tended to sow fresh 
discord among the different members of the state, by exciting a 
multitude of civil wars and domestic feuds, which, by a neces- 
sary consequence, brought the whole body-politic into a state of 
decay and dissolution. The history of the successors of Charle- 
magne presents a sad picture, humiliating and distressing to 
humanity. Every page of it is filled with insurrections, devas- 
tations, and carnage : princes, sprung from the same blood, 
armed against each other, breathing unnatural vengeance, and 
bent on mutual destruction : the royal authority insulted and 
despised by the nobles, who were perpetually at war with each 
other, either to decide their private quarrels, or aggrandize thena- 
selves at the expense of their neighbours ; and, finally, the citi- 
zens exposed to all kinds of oppression, reduced to misery and 
servitude, without the hope or possibility of redress from the 
government. Such was the melancholy situation of the States 
that composed the Empire of Charlemagne, when the irruption 
of new barbarians, the Normans from the extremities of the 



VERioD 11. A. D. 800—962. 75 

North, and the Hungarians from the back settlements of Asia^ 
exposed it afresh to the terrible scourge of foreign invasion. 

The Normans, of German origin, and inhabiting ancient 
Scandinavia, that is to say, Sweden, Denmark, and modern 
Norway, began, towards the end of the eighth century, to cover 
the sea with their ships, and to infest successively all the mari- 
time coasts of Europe.* During the space of two hundred years, 
they continued their incursions and devastations, with a fierce- 
ness and perseverance that surpasses all imagination. This phe- 
nomenon, however, is easily explained, if we attend to the state 
of barbarism in which the inhabitants of Scandinavia, in general, 
were at that time plunged. Despising agriculture and the arts, 
they found themselves unable to draw from fishing and the 
chase, the necessary means even for their scanty subsistence. 
The comfortable circumstances of their neighbours who culti- 
vated their lands, excited their cupidity, and invited them to 
acquire by force, piracy, or plunder, what they had not sufficient 
skill to procure by their own industry. They were, moreover, 
animated by a sort of religious fanaticism, which inspired them 
with courage for the most perilous enterprise. This reckless 
superstition they drew from the doctrines of Odin, who was the 
god of their armies, the rewarder of valour and intrepidity in 
war, receiving into his paradise of Valhalla, the brave who fell 
beneath the swords of the enemy ; while, on the other hand, 
the abode of the wretched, called by them Helveie, was pre- 
pared for those who, abandoned to ease and effeminacy, prefer- 
red a life of tranquillity to the glory of arms, and the perils of 
warlike adventure. 

This doctrine, generally diflTused over all the north, inspired 
the Scandinavian youth with an intrepid and ferocious courage, 
which made them brave all dangers, and consider the sangui- 
nary death of warriors as the surest path to immortality. Often 
did it happen that the sons of kings, even those who were 
already destined as successors to their father's throne, volun- 
teered as chiefs of pirates and brigands, under the name of Sea 
Kings, solely for the purpose of obtaining a name, and signaliz- 
ing themselves by their maritim? exploits. 

These piracies of the Normans, which at first were limited 
to the seas and countries bordering on Scandinavia, soon ex- 
tended over all the western and southern coasts of Europe. 
Germany, the kingdoms of Lorraine, France, England, Scot- 
land, Ireland, Spain, the Balearic Isles, Italy, Greece, and even 
the shores of Africa, were exposed in their turn to the insults 
and the ravages of these barbarians." 

France more esjoecially suffered ^'•om their incursions, under 



76 CHAPTEE in. 

the feeble reigns of Charles the Bald, and Charles the Fat. 
Not content with the havoc which they made on the coasts, 
they ascended the Seine, the Loire, the Garonne, and the Rhone, 
carrying fire and sword to the very centre of the kingdom. 
Nantes, Angers, Tours, Blois, Orleans, Mons, Poitiers, Bour- 
deaux, Rouen, Paris, Sens, Laon, Soissons, and various other 
cities, experienced ihe fury of these invaders. Paris was three 
times sacked and pillaged by them. Robert the Strong, a scion 
of the royal House of Capet, whom Charles the Bald had created 
(861,) Duke or Governor of Neustria, was killed in battle (866,) 
while combating with success against the Normans. At length, 
the terror which they had spread every where was such, that the 
French, who trembled at the very name of the Normans, had 
no longer courage to encounter them in arms ; and in order to 
rid themselves of such formidable enemies, they consented to 
purchase their retreat by a sum of money; a wretched and 
feeble remedy, which only aggravated the evil, by inciting the 
invaders, by the hope of gain, to return to the charge. 

It is not however at all astonishing, that France should have 
been exposed so long to these incursions, since, besides the in- 
efficient state of that monarchy, she had no vessels of her own 
to protect her coasts. The nobles, occupied solely with the 
care of augmenting or confirming their growing power, ofl!ered 
but a feeble opposition to the Normans, whose presence in the 
kingdom caused a diversion favourable to their views. Some 
of them even had no hesitation in joining the barbarians, when 
they happened to be in disgrace, or when they thought they had 
reason to complain of the government. 

It was in consequence of these numerous expeditions overall 
the seas of Europe, that the monarchies of the North were 
formed, and that the Normans succeeded also in founding several 
other states. It is to them that the powerful monarchy of the 
Russians owes its origin ; Ruric the Norman is allowed to have 
been its founder, towards the middle of the ninth century.' He 
and the grand dukes his successors, extended their conquests 
from the Baltic and the White Sea, to the Euxine ; and during 
the tenth century they made the emperors of the East to trem- 
ble on their thrones. In their native style of piratical warfare, 
they embarked on the Dnieper or Borysthenes, infested with 
their fleets the coasts of the Black Sea, carried terror and dismay 
to the gates of Constantinople, and obliged the Greek emperors 
to pay them large sums to redeem their capital from pillage. 

Ireland was more than once on the point of being subdued by 
the Normans, during these piratical excursions. Their first in- 
vasion of this island is stated to have been in the year 796 



PERIOD II. A. D. 800—962. 



77 



Gteat ravages were committed by the barbarians, who conquer- 
ed or founded the cities of Waterford, Dublin, and Limerick, 
which they formed into separate petty kingdoms. Christianity 
was introduced among them towards the middle of the tenth 
century ; and it was not till the twelfth, the time of its invasion 
by the English, that they succeeded in expelling them from the 
island, when they were dispossessed of the cities of Waterford 
and Dublin (1170) by Henry II. of England. 

Orkney, the Hebrides, the Shetland and Faroe Islands, and 
the Isle of Man, were also discovered and peopled by the Nor- 
mans.^ Another colony of these Normans peopled Iceland, 
where they founded a republic (874,) which preserved its inde- 
pendence till nearly the middle of the thirteenth century, when 
that island was conquered by the Kings of Norway.^ Norman- 
dy, in France, also received its name from this people. Charles 
the Simple, wishing to put a check on their continual incur- 
sions, concluded, at St. Clair-sur-Epte (892,) a treaty with Rollo 
or Rolf, chief of the Normans, by which he abandoned to them 
all that part of Neustria which reaches from the rivers Andelle 
and Aure to the ocean. To this he added a part of Vexin, 
situated between the rivers Andelle and Epte ; as also the ter- 
ritory of Bretagne. Rollo embraced Christianity, and received 
the baptismal name of Robert. He submitted to become a vas- 
sal of the crown of France, under the title of Duke of Norman- 
dy ; and obtained in marriage the princess Gisele, daughter of 
Charles the Simple. In the following century, we shall meet 
with these Normans of France as the conquerors of England, 
and the founders of the kingdom of the two Sicilies. 

The Hungarians, a people of Turkish or Finnish origin, 
emigrated, as is generally supposed, from Baschiria, a country 
lying to the north of the Caspian Sea, between the Wolga, the 
Kama, and Mount Ural, near the source of the Tobol and the 
Jaik, or modern Ural. The Orientals designate them by the 
generic name of Turks, while they denominate themselves 
Magiars, from the name of one of their tribes. After having 
been long dependent on the Chazars,''' a Turkish tribe to the 
north of the Palus Mteolis, they retired towards the Danube, to 
avoid, the oppressions of the Patzinacites ;^i and established 
themselves (887) in ancient Dacia, under the auspices of a chief 
named Arpad, from Avhom the ancient sovereigns of Hungary 
derive their origin. Arnulph, Kinsf of Germany, employed 
these Hungarians (892) against the Slavo-Moravians, who pos- 
sessed a flourishing state on the banks of the Danube, the 
Morau, and the Elbe.*- While engaged in this expedition, they 
were attacked again in their Dacian possessions by the Patzina- 



78 CHAPTER III. 

cites, who succeeded at length in expelling them from these 
territories.'^ Taking advantage afterwards of the death of 
Swiatopolk, king of the Moravians, and the troubles conse- 
quent on that event, they dissevered from Moravia all the coun* 
try which extends from the frontiers of Moldavia, Wallachia 
and Transylvania, to the Danube and the Morau. They con- 
quered, about the same time, Pannonia, with a part of Noricum, 
which they had wrested from the Germans; and thus laid the 
foundation of a new state, known since by the name of Hungary. 

No sooner had the Hungarians established themselves in 
Pannonia, than they commenced their incursions into the prin- 
cipal states of Europe. Germany, Italy, and Gaul, agitated by 
faction and anarchy, and even the Grecian empire in the East, 
became, all in their turn, the bloody scene of their ravages and 
devastations. Germany, in particular, for a long time felt the 
effects of their fury. AH its provinces in succession were laid 
waste by these barbarians, and compelled to pay them tribute. 
Henry I., King of Germany, and his son Otho the Great, at 
length succeeded in arresting their destructive career, and de- 
livered Europe from this new yoke which threatened its in- 
dependence. 

it was in consequence of these incursions of the Hungarians 
and Normans, to which may be added those of the Arabs and 
Slavonians, that the kingdoms which sprang from the empire of 
the Franks lost once more the advantages which the political 
institutions of Charlemagne had procured them. Learning, 
which that prince had encouraged, fell into a state of absolute 
languor; an end was put both to civil and literary improvement, 
by the destruction of convents, schools, and libraries ; the po- 
lity and internal security of the states were destroyed, and 
commerce reduced to nothing. England was the only excep- 
tion, which then enjoyed a transient glory under the memora- 
ble reign of Alfred the Great. That prince, grandson of Egbert 
who was the first king of all England, succeeded in expelling 
the Normans from the island (887,) and restored peace and tran- 
quillity to his kingdom. After the example of Charlemagne, 
he cultivated and protected learning and the arts, by restoring 
the convents and schools which the barbarians had destroyed ; 
inviting philosophers and artists to his court, and civilizing his 
subjects by literary institution* and wise regulations. '■* It is 
to be regretted, that a reign so glorious was so soon followed 
by new misfortunes. After the Normans, the Danes reappeared 
in England, and overspread it once more with turbulence and 
desolation. 

During these unenlightened and calamitous times, we find 



r: 



PERIOD III. A. D. 962—1074. 79 

the art of navigation making considerable progress. The Nor- 
mans, traversing the seas perpetually with their fleets, learned 
to construct their vessels with greater perfection, to become 
better skilled in wind and weather, and to use their oars and 
sails with more address. It was, moreover, in consequence of 
these invasions, that more correct information was obtained re- 
garding Scandinavia, and the remote regions of the North. 
Two Normans, Wolfstane and Other, the one from Jutland, 
and the other from Norway, undertook separate voyages, in 
course of the ninth century, principally with the view of mak- ' 
ing maritime discoveries. Wolfstane proceeded to visit that j , 
part of Prussia, or the Esthonia of the ancients, which was re- 1 1 
nowned for its produce of yellow amber. Other did not con- \ 
fine his adventures to the coasts of the Baltic ; setting out from | i 
the port of Heligoland, his native country, he doubled Cape ! \ 
North, and advanced as far as Biarmia, at the mouth of the 
Dwina, in the province of Archangel. Both he and Wolfstane 
communicated the details of their voyages to Alfred the Great, 
who made use of them in his Anglo-Saxon translation of Orosius. j i 
Besides Iceland and the Northern Isles, of which we have j I 
already spoken, we find, in the tenth century, some of the fugi- j 
tive Normans peopling Greenland ; and others forming settle- 
ments in Finland, which some suppose to be the island of 
Newfoundland, in North America.^^ 



CHAPTER IV. 

PERIOD III. 

From Otho the Great to Gregory the Great, a. d. 962 — 1074. 

While most of the states that sprang from the dismembered 
empire of the Franks, continued to be the prey of disorder and 
anarchy, the kingdom of Germany assumed a new form, and 
for several ages maintained the character of being the ruling 
power it! Europe. It was erected into a monarchy at the 
peace of Verdun (843,) and had for its first king Louis the 
German, second son of Louis the Gentle. At that time it 
comprised, besides the three cantons of Spire, Worms, and 
Mayence, on this side the Rhine, all the countries and pro- 
vinces beyond that river, which had belonged to the empire of 
the Franks, from the Eyder and the Baltic, to the Alps and 
the confines of Pannonia. Several of the Slavian tribes, also, 
were its tributaries. 

From the first formation of this kingdom, the royal authority 



80 CHAPTEH IV. 

was limited ; and Louis the German, in an assembly held al 
Marsen (S51,)had formally engaged to maintain the states in their 
rights and privileges ; to follow their counsel and advice ; and 
to consider them as his true colleagues and coadjutors in all the 
affairs of government. The states, however, soon found means 
to vest in themselves the right of choosing their kings. The 
first Carlovingian monarchs of Germany were hereditary. 
Louis the German even divided his kingdom among his three 
sons, viz. Carloman, Louis the Young, and Charles the Fat ; 
but Charles having been deposed in an assembly held at Frank- 
fort (887,) the states of Germany elected in his place Arnulph, a 
natural son of Carloman. This prince added to his crown both 
Italy and the Imperial dignity. 

The custom of election has continued in Germany down to 
modern times. Louis I'Enfant, or the Infant, son of Arnulph, 
succeeded to the throne by election ; and that prince having died 
very young (911,) the states bestowed the crown on a French 
nobleman, named Conrad, who was duke or governor of France 
on the Rhine, and related by the female side to the Carlovin- 
gian line. Conrad mounted the throne, to the exclusion of 
Charles the Simple, King of France, the only male and legiti- 
mate heir of the Carlovingian line. This latter prince, how- 
ever, found means to seize the kingdom of Lorrain, which 
Louis the Young had annexed to the crown of Germany. On 
the death of Conrad I. (919,) the choice of the states fell on 
Henry I., surnamed the Fowler, a scion of the Saxon dynasty 
of the kings and emperors of Germany. 

It was to the valour and the wisdom of Henry I., and to his 
mstitutions, civil and military, that Germany was indebted foi 
its renewed grandeur, f hat monarch, taking advantage of the 
intestine troubles which had arisen in France under Charles the 
Simple, recovered possession of the kingdom of Lorrain, the 
nobility of which made their submission to him in the years 
923 and 925. By this union he extended the limits of Germa- 
ny towards the west, as far as the Meuse and the Scheld. The 
kings of Germany afterwards divided the territory of Lorrain 
into tw^o governments or dutchies, called Upper and Lower Lor- 
rain. The former, situated on the Moselle, was called the 
dutchy of the Moselle ; the other, bounded by the Rhine, the 
Meuse, and the Scheld, was known by the name of Lothiers or 
Brabant. These two dutchies comprised all the provinces of 
the kingdom of Lorrain, except those which the emperors 
judged proper to exempt from the authority and jurisdiction of 
the dukes. The dutchy of the Moselle, alone, finally retained 
tlie name of Lorrain j and passed (1048) to Gerard of Alsace, 




Flight of Mahomet. P. 60. 




Crowning of Charlemagne. P. 65. 



PERIOD III. A. D. 962—1074. 81 

from whom descended the dukes of that name, who in the eigh- 
teenth century, succeeded to the Imperial throne. As to the 
dutchy of Lower Loriain, tlie Emperor Henry V. conferred it on 
Godfrey, Count of Louvain (1106), whose male attendants kept 
possession of it, under the title of Dukes of Brabant, till 1355, 
when it passed by female succession to the Dukes of Burgun- 
dy, who found means also to acquire, by degrees, the greater 
part of Lower Lorrain, commonly called the Low Countries. 

Henry L, a prince of extraordinary genius, proved himself 
the true restorer of the German kingdom. The Slavonian 
tribes who inhabited the banks of the Saal, and the country be- 
tween the Elbe and the Baltic, committed incessant ravages on 
the frontier provinces of the kingdom. With these he waged 
a successful war, and reduced them once more to the condition 
of tributaries. But his policy was turned chiefly against the 
Hungarians, who, since the reign of Louis IL, had repeatedly 
renewed their incursions, and threatened to subject all Germa- 
ny to their yoke. Desirous to repress effectually that ferocious 
nation, he took the opportunity of a nine years truce, which he 
had obtained with them, to construct new towns, and fortify 
places of strength. He instructed his troops in a new kind 
of tactics, accustomed them to military evolutions, and above 
all, he formed and equipped a cavalry sufficient to cope with 
those of the Hungarians, who particularly excelled in the art 
of managing horses. These depredators having returned with 
fresh forces at the expiry of the truce, he completely defeated 
them in two bloody battles, which he fought with them (933) 
near Sondershausen and Merseburg; and thus exonerated Ger- 
many from the tribute which it had formerly paid them.^ 

This victorious prince extended his conquests beyond the 
Eyder, the ancient frontier of Denmark. After a prosperous 
war with the Danes (931,) he founded the margravate of Sles- 
wick, which the Emperor Conrad II. afterwards ceded back 
(1033) to Canute the Great, King of Denmark. 

Otho the Great, son and successor of Henry L, added the 
kingdom of Italy to the conquests of his father, and procured 
also the Imperial dignity for himself, and his successors in Ger- 
many. Italy had become a distinct kingdom since the revolu- 
tion, which happened (888) at the death of the Emperor Charles 
the Fat. Ten princes in succession occupied the throne during 
the space of seventy-three years. Several of these princes, such 
as Guy, Lambert, Arnulf, Louis of Burgundy, and Berenger I., 
were invested, at the same time, with the Imperial dignity. Be- 
renger I. having been assassinated (924,) this latter dignity 
ceased entirely, and the city of Rome was even dismembered 
from the kingdom of Italy. 6 



1 1 



82 CHAPTER IV. 

The sovereignty of that city was seized by the famous Maro- 
zia, widow of a nobleman named Alberic. She raised her son 
to the pontificate by the title of John XI. ; and the better to es- 
tablish her dominion, she espoused Hugo King of Italy (932,) 
who became, in consequence of this marriage, master of Rome. 
But Alberic, another son of Marozia, soon stirred up the people 
against this aspiring princess and her husband Hugo. Having 
driven Hugo from the throne, and shut up his mother in prison, 
he assumed to himself the sovereign authority, under the title 
of Patrician of the Romans. At his death (954,) he transmit- 
ted the sovereignty to his son Octavian, who, though only nine- 
teen years of age, caused himself to be elected pope, by the titlo 
of John XII. 

This epoch was one most disastrous for Italy. The weak- 
ness of the government excited factions among the nobility, 
gave birth to anarchy, and fresh opportunity for the depredations 
of the Hungarians and Arabs, who, at this period, were the 
scourge of Italy, which they ravaged with impunity. Pavia, 
the capital of the kingdom, was taken and burnt by the Hunga- 
rians. These troubles increased on the accession of Berenger 
II. (950,) grandson of Berenger I. That prince associated his 
son Adelbert with him in the royal dignity ; and the public 
voice accused them of having caused the death of King Lothaire, 
son and successor of Hugo. 

Lothaire left a young widow, named Adelaide, daughter of 
Rodolph II., King of Burgundy and Italy. To avoid the impor- 
tunities of Berenger II., who wished to compel her to marry his 
son Adelbert, this princess called in the King of Germany to 
her aid. Otho complied with the solicitations of the distressed 
queen ; and, on this occasion, undertook his first expedition into 
Italy (941.) The city of Pavia, and several other places, having 
fallen into his hands, he caused himself to be proclaimed King 
of Italy, and married the young queen, his protegee. Berenger 
and his son, bemg driven for shelter to their strongholds, had 
recourse to negotiation. They succeeded in obtaining for them- 
selves a confirmation of the royal title of Italy, on condition of 
doing homage for it to the King of Germany ; and for this pur- 
pose, they repaired in person to the diet assembled at Augsburg 
(952,) where they took the oath of vassalage under the hands 
of Otho, who solemnly invested them with the royalty of Italy ; 
reserving to himself the towns and marches of Aquileia and 
Verona, the command of which he bestowed on hi? brother the 
Duke of Bavaria. 

In examining more nearly all that passed in this affair, it ap- 
pears that it was not without the regret, and even contrary to 



PERIOD III. A. D. 962—1074. 83 

the wish of Adelaide, that Otho agreed to enter into terms of 

j I accommodation with Berenger, and to ratify the compact which 

' Conrad, Duke of Lorrain, and son-in-law of the Emperor, had 

made with that prince. Afterwards, however, he lent a favour- 

I able ear to the complaints which Pope John XII., and some 

Italian noblemen had addressed to him against Berenger and 

I his son ; and took occasion, on their account, to conduct a new 

I army into Italy (9G1.) Berenger, too feeble to oppose him, re- 

I tired a second time within his fortifications. Otho marched 

I j from Pavia to Milan, and there caused himself to be crowned 

I j King of Italy ; from thence he passed to Rome, about the com- 

I mencement of the following year. Pope John XII., who had 

I j himself invited him, and again implored his protection against 

: ! Berenger, gave him, at first, a very brilliant reception; and re- 

: j vived the Imperial dignity in his favour, which had been dor- 

] mant for thirty-eight years. 

I It was on the 2d of February 962, that the Pope consecrated 
\ and crowned him Emperor ; but he had soon cause to repent of 
this proceeding. Otho, immediately after his coronation at 
' Rome, undertook the siege of St. Leon, a fortress in Umbria, 
I where Berenger and his Queen had taken refuge. While en- 
gaged in the siege, he received frequent intimations from Rome 
I of the misconduct and immoralities of the Pope. The remon- 
strances which he thought it his duty to make on this subject, 
I offended the young Pontiff, who resolved, in consequence, to 
I break off union with the Emperor. Hurried on by the impe- 
I tuosity of his character, he entered into a negotiation with Adel- 
\'. bert; and even persuaded him to come to Rome, in order to 
j } concert with him measures of defence. On the first news of 
' : this event, Otho put himself at the head of a large detachment, 
with which he marched directly to Rome. The Pope, however, 
I did not think it advisable to wait his approach, but fled with the 
' King, his new ally. Otho, on arriving at the capital, exacted a 
solemn oath from the clergy and the people, that henceforth 
: they would elect no pope without his counsel, and that of the 
■ Emperor and his successors.^ Having then assembled acoun- 
j cil, he caused Pope John XII. to be deposed ; and Leo VIII. 
' was elected in his place. This latter Pontiff was maintained 
in the papacy, in spite of all the efforts which his adversary 
made to regain it. Berenger II., after having sustained a long 
sieo-e at St. Leon, fell at length (964) into the hands of the con- 
' queror, who sent him into exile at Bamberg, and compelled his 
i I son, Adelbert, to take refuge in the court of Constantinople. 
' All Italy, to the extent of the ancient kingdom of the Lom- 

! I bards, fell under the dominion of the Germans : only a few 



84 CHAPTER IV. 

maritime towns in Lower Italy, with the greater part of Apulia 
and Calabria, still remained in the power of the Greeks. This 
kingdom, together with the Imperial dignity, Olho transmitted 
to his successors on the throne of Germany. From this time 
the Germans held it to be an inviolable principle, that as the im- 
perial dignity was strictly united with the royalty of Italy, kings 
elected by the German nation should, at the same time, in virtue 
of that election, become kings of Italy and Emperors. The 
practice of this triple coronation, viz. of Germany, Italy, and 
Rome, continued for many centuries ; and from Otho the Great, 
till Maximilian I. (1503,) no king of Germany took the title of 
Emperor, until after he had been formally crowned by the Pope. 

The kings and emperors of the house of Saxony, did not 
terminate their conquests with the dominions of Lorrain and 
Italy. Towards the east and the north, they extended them be- 
yond the Saal and the Elbe. All the Slavonian tribes between 
the Havel and the Oder • the Abotrites, the Rhedarians, the 
Wilzians, the Slavonians on the Havel, the Sorabians, the Dale- 
mincians, the Lusitzians, the Milzians, and various others ; the 
dukes also of Bohemia and Poland, although they often took up 
arms in defence of their liberty and independence, were all re- 
duced to subjection, and again compelled to pay tribute. In order 
to secure their submission, the Saxon kings introduced German 
colonies into the conquered countries ; and founded there several 
margravates, such as that of the North, on this side of the Elbe, 
afterwards called Brandenburg ; and in the East, those of Misnia 
and Lusatia. Otho the Great adopted measures for promulga- 
ting Christianity among them. The bishopric of Oldenburg 
in Wagria, of Havelberg, Brandenburg, Meissen, Merseburg, 
Zeitz; those of Posnania or Posen, in Poland, of Prague in Bo- 
hemia ; and lastly, the metropolis of Magdeburg, all owe their 
origin to this monarch. His grandson, the Emperor Otho III., 
founded (in 1000) the Archbishopric of Gnesna, in Poland, to 
which he subjected the bishoprics of Colberg, Cracow, and 
Breslau, reserving Posen to the metropolitan See of Magdeburg. 

The Saxon dynasty became extinct (1024) with the Emperor 
Henry II. It was succeeded by that of Franconia, commonly 
called the Salic. Conrad II.. the first emperor of this house, 
united to the German crown, the kingdom of Burgundy; or, as 
it is sometimes called, the kingdom of Aries. This monarchy, 
situate between the Rhine, the Reuss, Mount Jura, the Soane, 
the Rhone, and the Alps, had been divided among a certain 
number of counts, or governors of provinces, who, in conse- 
quence of the weakness of their last kings, Conrad and Rodolph 
III., had converted their temporary jurisdictions into hereditary 



PERIOD III. A. D. 962 — 1074. 



86 



and patrimoninl offices, after the example of the French nobility, 
who had already usurped the same power. The principal and 
most puissant of these Burgundian nobles, were the Counts of 
Provence, Vienne, (afterwards called Dauphins of Vienne,) Sa- 
voy, Burgundy, and Montbelliard ; the Archbishop of Lyons, 
Besancon, and Aries, and the Bishop of Basle, &c. The con- 
tempt in which these powerful vassals held the royal authority, 
induced Rodolph to apply for protection to his kinsmen the 
Emperors Henry II. and Conrad II., and to acknowledge them, 
by several treaties, his heirs and successors to the crown. It 
was in virtue of these treaties, that Conrad II. took possession 
of the kingdom of Burgundy (1032) on the death of Rodolph III. 
He maintained his rights by force of arms against Eudes, 
Count of Champagne, who claimed to be the legitimate suc- 
cessor, as being nephew to the last king. 

This reunion was but a feeble addition to the power of the 
German emperors. The bishops, counts, and great vassals of 
the kingdom they had newly acquired, still retained the au- 
thority which they had usurped in their several departments; 
and nothing was left to the emperors, but the exercise of their 
feudal and proprietory rights, together with the slender remains 
of the demesne lands belonging to the last kings. It is even 
probable, that the high rank which the Burgundian nobles en- 
joyed, excited the ambition of those in Germany, and emboldened 
them to usurp the same prerogatives. 

The emperors Conrad II. (i033) and Henry III. (1038,) were 
both crowned Kings of Burgundy. The Emperor Lothaire 
conferred the viceroyalty or regency on Conrad Duke of Zah- 
ringen, who then took the title of Governor or Regent of Bur- 
gundy. Berthold IV., son of Conrad, resigned (1156,) in favour 
of the Emperor Frederic I., his rights of viceroyalty over that part 
of the kingdom situate beyond Mount Jura. Switzerland, at 
that time, was subject to the Dukes of Zahringen, who, in order 
to retain it in vassalage to their government, fortified Morges, 
Mouden, Yverdun, and Berthoud ; and built the cities of Fri- 
bourg and Berne. On the extinction of the Zahringian dukes. 
(1191,) Switzerland became an immediate province of the empire. 
It was afterwards (1218) formed into a republic , and the other 
parts of the kingdom of Burgundy or Aries were gradually 
united to France, a^ we shall see in course of our narrative. 

The Hungarians, hince their first invasion under Louis I'En- 
fant, had wrested from the German crown all its possessions in 
Pannonia, with a part of ancient Noricum ; and the boundaries 
of Germany had been contracted within the river Ens in Bava- 
ria. Their growing preponderance afterwards enabled the Ger- 



I ; 



i ! 



86 CHAPTER IV. 

I i 

j '' mans to recover from the Hungarians a part of their conquests. 
I ! They succeeded in expelling them, not only from Noricum, but 
even from that part of Upper Pannonia which lies between 
Mount Cetius, or Kahlenberg as it is called, and the river Leita. 
Henry III. secured the possession of these territories by the 
treaty of peace which he concluded (1043) with Samuel, sur- \ ', 
named Aba, King of Hungary. This part of Hungary was I 
annexed to the eastern Margravate, or Austria, which then be- 1 1 
gan to assume nearly its present form. j 

Such then was the progressive aggrandizement of the German | 
empire, from the reign of Henrv I. to the year 1043. Under j ' 
its most flourishing state, thai la, under the Emperor Henry III., j ! 
it embraced nearly two-thirds of the monarchy of Charlemagne. 1 1 
All Germany between the Rhine, the Eyder, the Oder, the Leita, | j 
i i and the Alps ; all Italy, as far as the confines of the Greeks in j : 
I j Apulia and Calabria; Gaul, from the Rhine to the Scheldt, the } i 
i j Meuse, and the Rhone, acknowledged the supremacy of the 
emperors. The Dukes of Bohemia and Poland, were their tri- 
butaries ; a dependence which continued until the commotions 
which agitated Germany put an end to it in the thirteenth century. 
Germany, at this period, ranked as the ruling power in Europe ; 
and this preponderance was not owing so much to the extent of 
her possessions, as to the vigour of her government, which still 
maintained a kind of system of political unity. The emperors 
may be regarded as true monarchs, dispensing, at their pleasure, 
all dignities, civil and ecclesiastical — possessing very large do- 
mains in all parts of the empire — and exercising, individually, 
various branches of the sovereign power ; — only, in affairs of 
great importance, asking the advice or consent of the grandees. 
This greatness of the German emperors gave rise to a system 
of polity which the Popes took great care to support with all 
their credit and authority. According to this system, the whole 
of Christendom composed, as it were, a single and individual 
republic, of which the Pope was the spiritual head, and the 
Emperor the secular. The duty of the latter, as head and patron 
of the Church, was to take cognizance that nothing should be 
done contrary to the general welfare of Christianity. It was 
his part to protect the Catholic Church, to be the guardian of its 
preservation, to convocate its general councils, and exercise such 
rights as the natuire of his office and the interests of Christianity 
seemed to demand. 

It was in virtue of this ideal system that the emperors enjoyed a 
precedency over other monarch?, with the exclusive right of elect- 
ing kings ; and that they had bestowed on them the title of mas- 
ters of the world, and sovereign of sovereigns. A more impor- 



PERIOD III. A. D. 962— 1074» 



87 



tant prerogative was that which they possessed in the election of 
the Popes, From Olho the Great to Henry IV., all the Roman 
pontiffs were chosen, or at least confirmed, by the emperors, 
Henry III. deposed three schismatical popes (1046,) and sub- 
stituted in their place a German, who took the name of Clement 
11. The same emperor afterwards nominated various other popes 
of his own nation. 

However vast and formidable the power of these monarchs 
seemed to be, it was nevertheless far from being a solid and 
durable fabric ; and it was easy to foresee that, in a short time, 
it would crumble and disappear. Various causes conspired to 
accelerate its downfall ; the first and principal of which necessa- 
rily sprang from the constitution of the empire, which was faulty 
in itself, and incompatible with any scheme of aggrandizement 
or conquest. A great empire, to prolong its durability, requires 
a perfect unity of power, which can act with despatch, and com- 
municate with facility from one extremity to the other ; an 
armed force constantly on foot, and capable of maintaining the 
public tranquillity J frontiers well defended against hostile inva- 
sion ; and revenues proportioned to the exigencies of the state. 
All these characteristics of political greatness weie wanting in 
the Geman empire. 

That empire was elective; the states co-operated jointly with 
the emperors in the exercise of the legislative power. There 
were neither permanent armies, nor fortresses, nor taxation, nor 
any regular system of finance. The government was without 
vigour, incapable of protecting or punishing, or even keeping 
in subjection, its remote provinces, consisting of nations who 
differed in language, manners, and legislation. One insurirec- 
tion, though quelled, was only the forerunner of others ; and 
the conquered nations shook off the yoke with the same facility 
as they received it. The perpetual wars of the emperors in 
Italy, from the first conquest of that country by Otho the Great, 
prove, in a manner most evident, the strange imbecility of the 
government. At every change of reign, and every little revo- 
lution which happened in Germany, the Italians rose in arms, 
and put the emperors again to the necessity of reconquering 
that kingdom ; which undoubtedly it was their interest to have 
abandoned entirely, rather than to lavish for so many centuries 
their treasures and the blood of their people to no purpose. The 
climate of Italy was also disastrous to the Imperial armies; 
and many successions of noble German families found there a 
foreign grave. 

An inevitable consequence of this vitiated constitution, was 
the decline of the royal authority, and the gradual increase of 



88 CHAPTER IV. 

the power of the nobility. It is important, however, to remark 
that in Germany the progress of the feudal system had been 
much less rapid than in France. The dukes, counts, and mar- 
graves, that is, the governors of provinces, and wardens of the 
marches, continued for long to be regarded merely as imperial 
officers, without any pretensions to consider their governments 
as hereditary, or exercise the rights of sovereignty. Even fiefs 
remained for many ages in their primitive state, without being 
perpetuated in the families of those to whom they had been 
originally granted. 

A total change, however, took place towards the end of the 
eleventh century. The dukes and counts, become formidable 
by the extent of their power and their vast possessions, by de- 
grees, constituted themselves hereditary officers; and not content 
with the appropriation of their dutchies and counties, they took 
advantage of the weakness of the emperors, and their quarrels 
with the popes, to extort from them new privileges, or usurp the 
prerogatives of royalty, formerly reserved for the emperors 
alone. The aristocracy, or landed proprietors, followed the 
example of the dukes and counts, and after the eleventh century, 
they all began to play the part of sovereigns, styling them- 
selves, in their public acts. By the Gi-ace of God. At length fiefs 
became also hereditary. Conrad II. was the first emperor that 
permitted the transmission of fiefs to sons and grandsons ; the 
succession of collateral branches was subsequently introduced. 
The system of hereditary feudalism became thus firmly esta- 
blished in Germany, and by a natural consequence, it brought 
on the destruction of the imperial authority, and the ruin of 
the empire. 

Nothing, however, was more injurious to this authority than 
the extravagant power of the clergy, whom the emperors of the 
Saxon line had loaded with honours and benefactions, either 
from a zeal for religion, or with the intention of using them as 
a counterpoise to the ambition of the dukes and secular nobility. 
It was chiefly to Otho the Great that the bishops of Germany 
were indebted for their temporal power. That prince bestowed 
on them large grants of land from the imperial domains ; he 
gave them towns, counties, and entire dukedoms, with the pre- 
rogatives of royally, such as justiciary powers, the right of coin- 
ing money, of levying tolls and other public revenues, &c. 
These rights and privileges he granted them under the feudal 
law, and on condition of rendering him military servitude. 
Nevertheless, as the disposal of ecclesiastical dignities belonged 
then to the crown, and fiefs had not, in general, become heredi- 
larj', the Emperor still retained possession of those which he 



PERIOD 111. A. D. 962 — 1074. 



89 



conferred on the clergy ; these he bestowed on whomsoever he 
judged proper ; using them, however, always in conformity with 
his own views and interests. 

The same policy that induced Otho to transfer to the bishops 
a large portion of his domains, led him also to intrust them with 
the government of cities. At that time, there was a distinction 
of towns into royal and prefectorial. The latter were dependent 
on the dukes, while the former, subject immediately to the king, 
gave rise to what has since been called imperial cities. It was 
in these royal cities that the German kings were in the practice 
of establishing counts and burgomasters or magistrates, to ex- 
ercise in their name the rights of justice, civil and criminal, the 
levying of money, customs, &c. as well as other prerogatives 
usually reserved to the King. Otho conferred the counties, or 
governorships of cities where a bishop resided, on the bishops 
themselves, who, in process of time, made use of this new power 
to subject these cities to their own authority, and render them 
mediate and episcopal, instead of being immediate and royal as 
they were originally. 

The successors of Otho, as impolitic as himself, imitated his 
example. In consequence of this, the possessions of the crown 
were, by degrees, reduced to nothing, and the authority of the 
emperors declined with the diminution of their wealth. The 
bishops, at first devoted to the emperors, both from necessity 
and gratitude, no sooner perceived their own strength, than they 
were tempted to make use of it, and to join the secular princes, 
in order to sap the imperial authority, as well as to consolidate 
their own power. To these several causes of the downfall of 
the empire must be added the new power of the Roman pontiffs, 
the origin of which is ascribed to Pope Gregory VII. In the 
following Period, this matter will be treated more in detail; 
meantime, we shall proceed to give a succinct view of the other 
states that figured during this epoch on the theatre of Europe. 

The dynasty of the Ommiades in Spain, founded about the 
middle of the eighth century, was overturned in the eleventh. 
An insurrection having happened at Cordova against the Ca- 
liph Hescham, that prince was dethroned (1030,) and the caliph- 
ate ended with him. The governors of cities and provinces, 
and the principal nobility of the Arabs, formed themselves into 
independent sovereigns, under the title of kings ; and as many 
petty Mahometan States rose in Spain as there had been prin- 
cipal cities. The most considerable of these, were the king- 
doms of Cordova, Seville, Toledo, Lisbon, Saragossa, Tortosa, 
Valencia, Murcia, &c. This partition of the caliphate of Cor- 
dova, enabled the princes of Christendom to aggrandize their 



90 CHAPTER IV. 

power at the expense of the Mahometans. Besides the king- 
doms of Leon and Navarre, there existed in Spain at the com- 
mencement of the eleventh century, the county of Castille, which 
! had been dismembered from the kingdom of Leon, and the 
county of Barcelona, which acknowledged the sovereignty of 
the Kings of France. 

Sancho the Great, King of Navarre, had the fortune to unite 
in his own family all these different sovereignties, with the ex^ 
ception of Barcelona ; and as this occurred nearly at the same 
time with the destruction of the caliphate of Cordova, it would 
have been easy for the Christians to obtain a complete ascen- 
dency over the Mahometans, if they had kept their forces united. 
But the King of Navarre fell into the same mistake that had 
been so fatal to the Mahometans ; he divided his dominions 
among his sons (1035.) Don Garcias, the eldest, had Navarre, 
and was the ancestor of a long line of Navarrese kings ; the 
last of whom, John d'Albert was deposed (1512) by Ferdinand 
the Catholic. From Ferdinand, the younger son. King of Leon 1 1 
and Castille, were descended all the sovereigns of Castille and j ' 
Leon down to Queen Isabella, who transferred these kingdoms j j 
(1474,) by marriage, to Ferdinand the Catholic. Lastly, Den | i 
Ramira, natural son of Sancho, was the stem from whom sprung . 
all the kings of Arragon, down to Ferdinand, who by his mar- i 
riage with Isabella, happened to unite all the different Christian i 
States in Spain ; and put an end also to the dominion of the 1 1 
Arabs and Moors in that peninsula. 1 1 

In France the royal authority declined more and more, from 
the rapid progress which the feudal system made in that king- 
dom, after the feeble reign of Charles the Bald. The Dukes 
and the Counts, usurping the rights of royalty, made war on 
each other, and raised on every occasion the standard of revolt. 
The kings, in order to gain over some, and maintain others in 
their allegiance, were obliged to give up to them in succession 
every branch of the royal revenue ; so that the last Carlovin- 
gian princes were reduced to such a state of distress, that, far 
from being able to counterbalance the power of the nobility, they 
had hardly left wherewithal to furnish a scanty subsistence for 
their court. A change of dynasty became then indispensable ; 
and the throne, it was evident, must fall to the share of the most 
powerful and daring of its vassals. This evert, which had long 
been foreseen, happened on the death of Louis V., surnamed the 
Slothful (987,) the last of the Carlovingians, who died childless 
at the age of twenty. 

Hugh Capet, great-grandson of Robert the Strong, possessed 
at that time the central parts of the kingdom. He was Count 



1 1 



PERIOD III. A. u. 962 — 1074. 91 

of Paris, Duke of France and Neustna; and his brother Henry 
was master of the dutchy of Burgundy. It was not difficult for 
Hugh to form a party ; and under their auspices he got himselt 
proclaimed king at Noyon, and crowned at Rheims. Charles 
Duke of Lorrain, paternal uncle of the last king, and sole legiti- 
mate heir to the Carlovingian line,-^ advanced his claims to the 
crown ; he seized, by force of arms, on Laon and Rheims ; but 
being betrayed by the Bishop of Laon, and delivered up to his 
rival, he was confined in a prison at Orleans, where he ended 
his days (991.) 

Hugh, on mounting the throne, restored to the possession of 
the crown, the lands and dominions which had belonged to it 
between the Loire, the Seine, and the Meuse. His power gave 
a new lustre to the royal dignity, which he found means to ren- 
der hereditary in his family ; while at the same time he per- \ ' 
mitted the grandees to transmit to their descendants, male and 
female, the dutchies and counties which they held of the crown, j i 
reserving to it merely the feudal superiority. Thus the feudal ' i 
government was firmly established in France, by the hereditary j j 
tenure of the great fiefs ; and that kingdom was in consequence | j 
divided among a certain number of powerful vassals, who ren- i j 
dered fealty and homage to their kings, and marched at their ! 
command on military expeditions ; but who nevertheless were i 
nearly absolute masters in their own dominions, and often die- : ' 
tated the law to the sovereign himself. Hugh was the progeni- ' • 
tor of the Capetian dynasty of French kings, so called from his 
own surname of Capet. 

England, during the feeble reigns of the Anglo-Saxon princes, 
successors to Alfred the Great, had sunk under the dominion of 1 1 
priests and monks. The consequence was, the utter ruin of its j^ 
finances, and its naval and military power. This exposed the | j 
kingdom afresh to the attacks of the Danes (991,) who imposed j ' 
on the English a tribute or tax, known by the name of Danegelt. 
Under the command of their kings Sueno or Sweyn L, and Ca- 
nute the Great, they at length drove the Anglo-Saxon kings from 
their thrones, and made themselves masters of all England 
(1017.) But the dominion of the Danes was only of short con- 
tinuance. The English shook off their yoke, and conferred their 
crown on Edward the Confessor (1042) a prince of the royal 
blood of their ancient kings. On the death of Edward, Harold, j 
Earl of Kent, was acknowledged King of England (1066 ;) but 
he met with a formidable competitor in the person of William 
Duke of Normandy. 

This prince had no other right to the crown, than that founded 
on a verbal promise of Edward the Confessor, and confirmed by an 



|l 



93 CHAPTER IV. 

oath which Harold had given him while Earl of Kent. Williani 
landed in England (October 14th 1066,) at the head of a conside- 
rable army, and having offered battle to Harold, near Hastings in 
Sussex, he gained a complete victory. Harold was killed in 
the action, and the conquest of all England was the reward of 
the victor. To secure himself in his new dominions, William 
constructed a vast number of castles and fortresses throughout 
all parts of the kingdom, which he took care to fill with Nor- 
man garrisons. The lands and places of trust of which he had 
deprived the English, were distributed among the Normans, and 
j other foreigners who were attached to his fortunes. He intro- 
duced the feudal law, and rendered fiefs hereditary ; he ordered 
the English to be disarmed, and forbade them to have light in 
their houses after eight o'clock in the evening. He even at- 
tempted to abolish the language of the country, by establishing 
numerous schools for teaching the Norman-French ; by pub- 
lishing the laws, and ordering the pleadings in the courts of 
justice to be made in that language ; hence it happened that the 
ancient British, combined with the Norman, formed a new sort 
of language, which still exists in the modern English. William 
thus became the common ancestor of the kings of England, 
whose right to the crown is derived from him, and founded on 
the Conquest. 

About the time that William conquered England, another co- 
lony of the same Normans founded the kingdom of the two 
Sicilies. The several provinces of which this kingdom was 
composed, were, about the beginning of the eleventh century, 
divided among the Germans, Greeks, and Arabians,^ who were 
incessantly waging war with each other. A band of nearly a 
hundred Normans, equally desirous of war and glory, landed in 
that country (1016,) and tendered their services to the Lombard 
princes, vassals of the German empire. The bravery which 
they displayed on various occasions, made these princes desirous 
of retaining them in their pay, to serve as guardians of their 
frontiers against the Greeks and Arabians. The Greek princes 
very soon were no less eager to gain their services ; and the 
Duke of Naples, with the view of attaching them to his interest, 
ceded to them a large territory, where they built the city of 
Aversa, three leagues from Capua. The emperor Conrad II. 
erected it into a county (1038,) the investiture of which he 
granted to Rainulph, one of their chiefs. 

At this same period the sons of Tancred conducted a new 
colony from Normandy into Lower Italy. Their arrival is gen- 
erally referred to the year 1033 ; and tradition has assigned to 
Tancred a descent from Rollo or Robert I. Duke of Normandy 



I ! 



1 i 



PERIOD III. A. D. 962—1074. 93 

These new adventurers undertook the conquest of Apulia (1041,) | 
which they formed into a county, the investiture of which they 1 , 
j obtained from Henry III. Robert Guiscard, one of the sons of ' 
Tancred, afterwards (1047) completed the conquest of that pro- ! I 
I vince ; he added to it that of Calabria, of which he had also I I 
j deprived the Greeks (1059,) and assumed the title of Duke of j \ 
\ Apulia and Calabria. j ] 

j To secure himself in his new conquests, as well as in those 

i which he yet meditated from the two empires, Robert concluded 
a treaty the same year with Pope Nicholas II., by which that 
Pontiff confirmed him in the possession of the dutchies of Apulia 
and Calabria ; granting him not only the investiture of these, but 
promising him also that of Sicily, whenever he should expel 
the Greeks and Arabians from it. Robert, in his turn, acknow- 
ledged himself a vassal of the Pope, and engaged to pay him 
an annual tribute of twelve pence, money of Pavia, for every 
pair of oxen in the two dutchies.-'* Immediately after this treaty, 
Robert called in the assistance of his brother Roger, to rescue 
Sicily from the hands of the Greeks and Arabs." No sooner had 
he accomplished this object, than he conquered in succession 
the principalities of Bari, Salerno, Amalfi, Sorrento, and Bene- 
vento ; this latter city he surrendered to the Pope. 

Such is the origin of the dutchies of Apulia and Calabria ; 
which, after a lapse of some years, were formed into a kingdom 
under the name of the Two Sicilies. 

As to the kingdoms of the North, the light of history scarcely 
began to dawn there until the introduction of Christianity, which 
happened about the end of the tenth or beginning of the eleventh 
century. ''^ The promulgation of the Gospel opened a way into 
the North for the diffusion of arts and letters. The Scandina- 
vian states, Denmark, Sweden, and Norway, which before that 
time were parcelled out among independent chiefs, began then 
to form plans of civil government, and to combine into settled 
monarchies. Their new religion, however, did not inspire these 
nations with its meek and peaceable virtues, nor overcome their 
invincible propensity to wars and rapine. Their heroism was 
a wild and savage bravery, which emboldened them to face all 
dangers, to undertake desperate adventures, and to achieve sud- 
den conquests, which were lost and won with the same rapidity. 
Harold, surnamed Blaatand, or Blue teeth, was the first sole 
monarch of the Danes, who with his son Sweyn received bap- 
tism, after being vanquished by Otho the Great (965.) Sweyn 
relapsed to paganism ; but his son Canute the Great, on his 
accession to the throne (1014,) made Christianity the established 
religion of his kingdom. He sent for monks from other coun- 



i i 



!i 



94 CHAPTER IV. 



tries, founded churches, and divided the kingdom into dioresses. 
Ambitious to distinguish himself as a conqueror, he afterwards 
subdued England and Norway (1038.) To these he added a 
part of Scotland and Sweden ; and conferred in his own life- 
time on one of his sons, named Sweyn, the kingdom of Nor- 
way, and on another, named Hardicanute, that of Denmark. 
These acquisitions, however, were merely temporary. Sweyn 
was driven from Norway (1035;) while England and Scotland 
also shook off the Danish yoke (1042,) on the death of Hardi- 
canute ; and Magnus King of Norway, even made himself mas- 
ter of Denmark, which did not recover its entire independence 
until the death of that prince (1047.) 

The ancient dynasty of Kings who occupied the throne of 
Denmark from the most remote ages, is known by the name of 
Skioldungs, because, according to a fabulous tradition, they 
were descended from Skiold, a pretended son of the famous 
Odin who, from being the conqueror, was exalted into the deity 
of the North. The kings who reigned after Sweyn II. were 
called Estrithides, from that monarch, who was the son of Ulf 
a Danish nobleman, and Estrith, sister to Canute the Great. It 
was this Sweyn that raised the standard of revolt against Mag- 
nus King of Norway (1044,) and kept possession of the throne 
until his death. 

In Sweden, the kings of the reigning family, descended, as is 
alleged, from Regner Lodbrok, took the title of Kings of Upsal, 
the place of their residence. Olaus Skotkonung changed this 
title into that of King of Sweden. He was the first monarch of 
his nation that embraced Christianity, and exerted himself to 
propagate it in his kingdom. Sigefroy, Archbishop of York, 
who was sent into Sweden by Ethelred King of England, bap- 
tized Olaus and his whole family (1001.) The conversion of 
i j the Swedes would have been more expeditious, had not the zeal 
! I of Olaus been restrained by the Swedish Diet who decided for 
full liberty of conscience. Hence the strange mixture, both of 
doctrine and worship, that long prevailed in Sweden, where Je- 
sus Christ was profanely associated with Oclin, and the Pagan 
goddess Freya confounded with the Virgin. Anund Jacques, 
son of Olaus, contributed much to the progress of Christianity; 
and his zeal procured him the title o[ Most Christian King. 

In Norway, Olaus I., surnamed Tryggueso?i, towards the end 
of the tenth century, constituted himself the apostle and mis* 
sionary of his people, and undertook to convert them to Chris- 
tianity by torture and punishment. Iceland and Greenland ^ 
were likewise converted by his efforts, and afterwards became 
his tributaries (1029.) One of his successors, Olaus II., called 



PEBioD III. A. V. 962 — 1074. 



95 



1 1 



the Fat, and also the Saint, succeeded in extirpating paganism 
from Norvvay (1020 ;) but he used the cloak of religion to es- 
tablish his own authority, by destroying several petty kings, 
who before this time possessed each their own dominions. 

Christianity was likewise instrumental in throwing some rays 
of light on the history of the Sclavonian nations, by imparting 
to them the knowledge of letters, and raising them in the scale 
of importance among the civilized nations of Europe. The 
Sclavonians who were settled north of the Elbe, had been sub- 
dued by the Germans, and compelled to embrace Christianity. 
The haughtiness and rigour of Thierry, Margrave of the North, 
induced them to shake off the yoke, and to concert a general 
insurrection, which broke out in the reign of Otho II. (982., 
The episcopal palaces, churches and convents, were destroyed ; 
and the people returned once more to the superstitions of pagan- 
ism. Those tribes that inhabited Brandenburg, part of Pome- 
rania and Mecklenburg, known formerly under the name of 
Wilzians and Welatabes, formed themselves into a republican 
or federal body, and took the name of Luitizians. The Abo- 
trites, on the contrary, the Polabes, and the Wagrians,'' were 
decidedly for a monarchical government, the capital of which 
was fixed at Mecklenburg. Some of the princes or sovereigns 
of these latter people were styled Kings of the Venedi. The 
result of this general revolt was a series of long and bloody wars 
between the Germans and Sclavonians. The latter defended 
their civil and religious liberties with a remarkable courage and 
perseverance ; and it was not till after the twelfth century, that 
they were subdued and reduced to Christianity by the continued 
efforts of the Dukes of Saxony, and the Margraves of the North, 
and by means of the crusades and colonies which the Germans 
despatched into their country.^" 

The first duke of Bohemia that received baptism from the 
hands, as is supposed, of Methodius, bishop of Moravia (894,) 
was Borzivoy. His successors, however, returned to idolatry ; 
and it was not till near the end of the tenth century, properly 
speaking, and in the reign of Boleslaus II., surnamed the Pious, 
that Christianity became the established religion of Bohemia 
(999.) These dukes were vassals and tributaries of the German 
empire ; and their tribute consisted of 500 silver marks, and 120 
oxen. They exercised, however, all the rights of sovereignty 
over the people ; their reign was a system of terror, and they 
seldom took the opinion or advice of their nobles and grandees. 
The succession was hereditary in the reigning dynasty ; and 
the system of partition was in use, otherwise the order of suc- 
cession would have been fixed and permanent. Over a numbei 



il 



l! 



96 CHAPTER IV. 

of these partitionary princes, one was vested with certain rights 
of superiority, under the title of Grand Prince, according to a 
ouijtom. found very prevalent among the half civilized nations 
of tne north and east of Europe." The greater proportion of 
the inhabitants, the labouring classes, artisans, and domestics, 
were serfs, and oppressed by the tyrannical yoke of their mas- 
ters. The public sale of men was even practised in Bohemia; 
the tithe, or tenth part of which, belonged to the sovereign. The 
descendants of Borzivoy possessed the throne of Bohemia until 
1306, when the male line became extinct. 

The Poles were a nation whose name does not occur in his- 
tory before the middle of the tenth century ; and we owe to 
Christianity the first intimations that we have regarding this 
people. Mieczislaus I., the first duke or prince of the Poles of 
whom we posses* any authentic accounts, embraced Christianity 
(966,) at the solicitation of his spouse Dambrowka, sister ot 
Boleslaus II., duke of Bohemia. Shortly after, the first bish- 
opric in Poland, that of Posen, was founded by Otho the Great. 
Christianity did not, however, tame the ferocious habits of the 
Poles, who remained for a long time without the least progress 
in mental cultivation.'^ Their government, as wretched as that 
of Bohemia, subjected the great body of the nation to the most 
debasing servitude. The ancient sovereigns of Poland were 
hereditary. They ruled most despotically, and with a rod ot 
iron ; and, although they acknowledged themselves vassals and 
tributaries of the German emperors, they repeatedly broke out 
into open rebellion, asserted their absolute independence, and 
wajred a successful war against their masters. Boleslaus, son 
of Mieczislaus I., took advantage of the troubles which rose in 
Germany on the death of Olho III., to possess himself of the 
Marches of Lusatia and Budissin, or Bautzen, which the Em- 
peror Henry II. afterwards granted him as fiefs. This same 
prince, in despite of the Germans, on the death of Henry II. 
(1025,) assumed the royal dignity. Mieczislaus II., son of Bo- 
leslaus, after having cruelly ravaged the country situate between 
the Oder, the Elbe, and the Saal, was compelled to abdicate the 
throne, and also to restore those provinces which his father had 
wrested from the Empire. The male descendants of Mieczis- 
laus I. reigned in Poland until the death of Casimir the Great 
(1370.) This dynasty of kings is known by the name of the 
Piasts, or Piasses, so called from one Piast, alleged to have 
been its founder. 

Silesia, which was then a province of Poland, received the 
light of the Gospel when it first visited that kingdom ; and had 
for its apostle, as is supposed, a Romish priest named GeofTry, 
who is reckoned the first bishop of Smogra (966.) 



PERIOD III. A. D. 962 — 1074. 



97 



In Russia, Vladimir the Great, great-grandson of Ruric, was 
the first grand duke that embraced Christianity, (988.) He was 
baptized at Cherson in Taurida, on the occasion of his marriage 
with Anna Romanowna, sister of Basil II. and Constantine VIIL, 
Emperors of Constantinople. It was this prince that introduced 
the Greek ritual into Russia, and founded several schools and 
convents. The alphabet of the Greeks was imported into Rus- 
sia along with their religion ; and from the reign of Vladimir, 
that nation, more powerful and united than most of the other 
European states, carried on a lucrative commerce with the Greek 
empire, of which it became at length a formidable rival. 

At the death of that prince (1015,) Russia comprehended 
those vast regions which, from east to west, extend from the Icy 
Sea and the mouth of the Dwina, to the Niemen, the Dniester, 
and the Bug ; and southward of this last river, to the Carpathian 
Mountains, and the confines of Hungary and Moldavia. The 
city of Kiow on the Dnieper, was the capital of the empire, and 
the residence of the Grand Dukes. This period also gave rise 
to those unfortunate territorial partitions which, by dividing the 
Russian monarchy, exposed it to the insults and ravages of the 
neighbouring nations. Jaroslaus, one of the sons of Vladimir, 
made himself famous as a legislator, and supplied the Novogo- 
rodians with laws to regulate their courts of justice. No less 
the friend and protector of letters, he employed himself in trans- 
lating Greek books into the Sclavonian language. He founded 
a public school at Novogorod, in which three hundred children 
were educated at his sole expense. His daughter Anna married 
Henry I., King of France; and this princess was the common 
mother of all the kings and princes of the Capetian dynasty. 

Hungary was divided, in the tenth century, among several 
petty princes, who acknowledged a common chief, styled the 
Grand Prince, whose limited authority was reduced to a simple 
pre-eminence in rank and dignity. Each of these princes as- 
sembled armies, and made predatory excursions, plundering and 
ravaging the neighbouring countries at their pleasure. The 
East and the West suffered long under the scourge of these atro- 
cious pillagers. Christianity, which was introduced among thera 
about the end of the tenth century, was alone capable of soft- 
ening the manners, and tempering the ferocity of this nation^ 
Peregrine, bishop of Passau, encouraged by Otho the Great, 
and patronized by the Grand Prince Geisa, sent the first mis- 
sionaries into Hungary (973.) St. Adelbert, bishop of Prague, 
had the honour to baptize the son of Geisa, called Waic (994,) 
but who received then the baptismal name of Stephen. 

This latter prince, having succeeded his father (997,) changed 

7 



1 I 
i I 



96 CHAPTER IV. 

entirely the aspect of Hungary. He assumed the royal dignity, 
with the consent of Pope Sylvester II., who sent him on this 
occasion the Angelic Crown,^^ as it is called ; the same, accord- 
ing to tradition, which the Hungarians use to this day in the 
coronation of their kings. At once the apostle and the law- 
giver of his country, Stephen I. combined politics with justice. 
and employed both severity and clemency in reforming his sub- 
jects. He founded several bishoprics, extirpated idolatry, banish- 
ed anarchy, and gave to the authority of the sovereign, a vigour 
and efficiency which it never before possessed. To him like- 
wise is generally ascribed the political division of Hungary into 
counties, as also the institution of palatines, and great officers 
of the crown. He conquered Transylvania, about 1002-3, ac- 
cording to the opinion of most modern Hungarian authors, and 
formed it into a distinct government, the chiefs of which, called 
Vaivodes, held immediately of his crown. 

The history of the Greek empire presents, at this time, nothing 
but a tissue of corruption, fanaticism and perfidj'. The throne, 
as insecure as that of the Western empire had been, was filled 
alternately by a succession of usurpers ; most of whom rose 
from the lowest conditions of life, and owed their elevation 
solely to the perpetration of crime and parricide. A supersti- 
tion gross in its nature, bound as with a spell the minds of the 
Greeks, and paralyzed their courage. It was carefully cherished 
by the monks, who had found means to possess themselves of 
the government, by procuring the exclusion of the secular clergy 
from the episcopate ; and directing the attention of princes to 
those theological controversies, often exceedingly frivolous, 
which were produced and re-produced almost without inter- 
mission.^'* Hence originated those internal commotions and 
distractions, those schisms and sects, which more than once 
divided the empire, and shook the throne itself 

These theological disputes, the rivalry between the two pa- 
triarchs of Rome and Constantinople,^^ and the contests respect- 
ing the Bulgarian converts, fed to an irreparable schism between 
the churches of the East and the West. This controversy was 
most keenly agitated under the pontificate of John VIII., and 
when the celebrated Photius was patriarch of Constantinople; 
and in spite of the efforts which several of the Greek emperors 
and patriarchs afterwards made to effect a union with the Romish 
See, the animosity of both only grew more implacable, and 
ended at last in a final rupture between the two churches. A 
government so weak and so capricious as that of Constantinople, 
could not but be perpetually exposed to the inroads of foreign 
enemies. The Huns, Ostrogoths, Avars, Bulgarians, Russians, 



1 1- 



PERIOD III. A. D. 962—1074. 99 

Hungarians, Chazars, and Patzinacites, harassed the empire on 
the side of the Danube ; while the Persians^** were incessantly 
exhausting its strength in the East, and on the side of the Eu- 
phrates. All these nations, however, were content with merely 
desolating the frontiers of the empire, and imposing frequent 
contributions on the Greeks. It was a task reserved for the 
Lombards, the Arabs, the Noraians, and the Turks, to detach 
from it whole provinces, and by degrees to hasten its downfall. 

The Lombards were the first that conquered from the Greeks 
the greater part of Italy. Palestine, Syria, and the whole pos- 
sessions of the Empire in Greater Asia, as well as Egypt, Nor- 
thern Africa, and the Isle of Cyprus, were seized in the seventh 
century by the Arabs, who made themselves masters of Sicily," 
and three times laid siege to Constantinople (669, 717, 719.) 
They would have even succeeded in taking this Eastern capital, 
and annihilating the Greek empire, had not the courage of Leo 
the Isaurian, and the surprising effects of the Gregeois, or Greek 
Fire,'" rendered their efforts useless. At length, in the eleventh 
century, the Normans conquered all that remained to the Greeks 
in Italy ; while the SeJjuk Turks, who must not be confounded 
with the Ottoman Turks, deprived them of the greater part of 
Asia Minor. 

Turk is the generic appellation for all the Tartar nations, ^^ 
mentioned by the ancients under the name of Scythians. Their 
original country was in those vast regions situate to the north 
of Mount Caucasus, and eastward of the Caspian Sea, beyond 
the Jihon,or Oxus of the ancients, especially in Charasm, Tran- 
soxiana, Turkestan, &c. About the eighth centxiry, the Arabs 
had passed the Oxus, and rendered the Turks of Charasm and 
Transoxiana their tributaries. They instructed them in the re- 
ligion and laws of Mahomet ; but, by a transition rather extra- 
ordinary, it afterwards happened, that the vanquished imposed 
the yoke on their new masters. 

The empire of the Arabs, already enfeebled by the territorial 
losses which have been mentioned, declined more and more, 
from about the middle of the ninth century. The Caliphs of 
Bagdad had committed the mistake of trusting their persons to 
a military guard of foreigners, ^^ viz. the Turks, who, taking ad- 
vantage of the effeminacy of these princes, soon arrogated to 
themselves the whole authority, and abused it so far, as to leave 
the Caliphs entirely dependent on their will, and to vest in them- 
selves the hereditary succession of the government. Thus, in 
the very centre of the caliphate of Bagdad, there rose a multi- 
tude of new sovereignties or dynasties, the heads of which, 
under the title of Emir or Commander, exercised the supreme 



100 CHAPTER IV. 

power ; leaving nothing more to the Caliph than a pre-eminence 
of dignity, and that rather of a spiritual than a temporal nature. 
i Besides the external marks of homage and respect which were 
paid him, his name continued to be proclaimed in the mosques, 
and inscribed on the coined money. By him were granted all 
letters-patent of investiture, robes, swords, and standards, accom- 
panied with high-sounding titles ; which did not, however, pre- 
vent these usurpers from maltreating their ancient masters, 
insulting their person, or even attempting their lives, whenever 
it might serve to promote their interest. 

A general revolution broke out under the caliph Rahdi. That 
prince, wishing to arrest the progress of usurpation, thought ot 
" creating a new minister, whom he invested with the title of 
Emir-al-Omra, or Commander of Commanders ; and conferred 
on him powers much more ample than those of his vizier. This 
minister, whom he selected from the Emirs, officiated even in 
the grand mosque of Bagdad, instead of the caliph ; and his 
name was pronounced with equal honours in the divine service 
throughout the empire. This device, which the caliph employ- 
ed to re-establish his authority, only tended to accelerate its 
destruction. The Bowides, the most powerful dynasty among 
the Emirs, arrogated to themselves the dignity of Chief Com- 
mander (945,) and seized both the city and the sovereignty of 
Bagdad. The Caliph, stripped of all temporal power, was then 
only grand Iman, or sovereign-pontiff of the Mussulman religion, 
under the protection of the Bowidian prince, who kept him as 
his prisoner at Bagdad. 

Such was the sad situation of the Arabian empire, fallen 
from its ancient glory, when a numerous Turkish tribe, from 
the centre of Turkestan, appeared on the stage, overthrew the 
dominions of the Bowides ; and, after imposing new fetters on 
the caliphs, laid the foundation of a powerful empire, known by 
the name of the Seljukides. This roving tribe, which took its 
name from Seljuk a Mussulman Turk, after having wandered 
for some time with their flocks in Transoxiana, passed the 
Jihon to seek pasturage in the province of Chorasan. Rein- 
forced by new Turkish colonies from Transoxiana, this coali- 
tion became in a little time so powerful, thaf Togrul Beg, 
grandson of Seljuk, had the boldness to cause himself to be 
proclaimed Sultan in the city of Niesatur,-" the capital of Cho- 
rasan, and formally announced himself as a conqueror (1038.) 
This prince, and the sultans his successors, subdued by de- 
grees most of the provinces in Asia, which formed the caliphate 
of Bagdad.^^ They annihilated the power of the Bowides 
reduced the Caliphs to the condition of dependents, and al 
length attacked also the possessions of the Greek empire 



PERIOD IV. A. D. 1074—1300. 101 

Alp-Arslan, the nephew and immediate successor of Togrul 
Beg, gained a signal victory in Armenia, over the Emperor 
Romanus Diogenes (1071) who was there taken prisoner. 
The confusion which this event caused in the Greek empire, 
was favourable to the Turks, who seized not only what re- 
mained to the Greeks in Syria, but also several provinces in 
Asia Minor, such as Cilicia, Isauria, Pamphylia, Lycia, Pisidia, 
Lycaonia, Cappadocia, Galatia, Pontus, and Bythinia. 

The empire of the Seljukides was in its most flourishing 
state under the sultan Malek Shah, the son and successor of 
Alp-Arslan. The caliph Cayem, in confirming to this prince 
the title of Sultan and Chief Commander, added also that of 
Comviander of the Faithful, which before that time had never 
been conferred but on the caliphs alone. On the death of Ma- 
lek (1092,) the disputes that rose among his sons occasioned a 
civil war, and the partition of the empire. These vast territories 
were divided among three principal dynasties descended from 
Seljuk, those of Iran, Kerman, and Roum, or Rome. This 
latter branch, which ascribes its origin to Soliman, great-grand- 
son of Seljuk, obtained the provinces of Asia Minor, which 
the Seljukides had conquered from the Greeks. The princes 
of this dynasty are known in the history of the Crusades by 
the name of Sultans of Iconium or Cogni, a city of Lycaonia, 
where the sultans established their residence after being de- 
prived by the crusaders of the city of Nice in Bythinia. The 
most powerful of the three dynasties was that of the Seljukides 
of Iran, whose sway extended over the greater part of Upper 
Asia. It soon, however, fell from its grandeur, and its states 
were divided into a number of petty sovereignties, over which 
the Emirs or governors of cities and provinces usurped the 
supreme power.^"^ These divisions prepared the way for the 
conquests of the crusaders in Syria and Palestine ; and fur- 
nished also to the Caliphs of Bagdad the means of shaking off 
the yoke of the Seljukides (1152,) and recovering the sove- 
reignty of Irak- Arabia, or Bagdad. 



CHAPTER V. 

PERIOD IV. 



From Pope Gregory VII. to Boniface VIII a. d. 1074—1300. 

A NEW and powerful monarchy rose on the ruins of the Ger- 
man empire, that of the Roman Pontiffs ; which monopolized 
both spiritual and temporal dominion, and extended its influ- 



i I 



102 CHAPTER V. 

ence over all the kingdoms of Christendom. This supremacy, 
whose artful and complicated mechanism is still an object of 
astonishment to the most subtle politicians, was the work of 
Pope Gregory VII., a man born for great undertakings, as re- 
markable for his genius, which raised him above his times, as 
for the austerity of his manners and the boundless reach of his 
ambition. Indignant at the depravity of the age, which was 
immersed in ignorance and vice, and at the gross immorality 
I which pervaded all classes of society, both laymen and ecclesi- 
I astics, Gregory resolved to become the reformer of morals, and 
I the restorer of religion. To succeed in this project, it was ne- 
i cessary to replace the government of kings, which had totally 
i lost its power and efficiency, by a new authority, whose salutary 
restraints, imposed alike on the high and the low, might restore 
vigour to the laws, put a stop to licentiousness, and impose a 
reverence on all by the sanctity of its origin. This authority 
was the spiritual supremacy of the Pope, of which Gregory was 
I at once the creator and inventor. 

I This extraordinary person, who was the son of a carpenter 
at Saona in Tuscany, named Bonisone, or according to others, 
! descended of a Roman family, had paved the way to his future 
j greatness under the preceding pontiffs, whose counsels he had 
I directed under the title of Cardinal Hildebrand. While Cardi- 
j nal, he engaged Pope Nicolas II. to enter into a treaty with 
I Robert Guiscard (1059,) for procuring that brave Norman as an 
! ally and a vassal of the Holy See. Taking advantage, like- 
j wise of the minority of Henry IV., he caused, this same year, 
in a council held at Rome, the famous decree to be passed, 
which, by reserving the election of the pontiffs principally to 
the cardinals, converted the elective privileges which the em- 
perors formerly enjoyed in virtue of their crown rights, into a 
personal favour granted by the Pope, and emanating from the 
court of Rome. 

On the death of Pope Nicolas II., Cardinal Hildebrand pro- 

i cured the election of Alexander II., without waiting for the or- 

I der or concurrence of the Imperial court ; and he succeeded in 

i maintaining him in the apostolical chair against Pope Honorius 

j II., whom the reigning empress had destined for that honour. 

At length, being raised himself to the pontifical throne, scarce- 

1 ly had he obtained the Imperial confirmation, when he put in 

execution the project which he had so long been concerting and 

i preparing, viz. the erecting of a spiritual despotism,^ extend- 

; ing to priests as well as kings ; making the supreme pontiff'the 

arbiter in all affairs, both civil and ecclesiastical — the bestower 

of favours, and the dispenser of crowns. The basis of this 



PERIOD IV. A. D. 1074—1300. 103 

dominion was, that the Vicar of Jesus Christ ought to be su- 
perior to all human power. The better to attain his object, he 
began by withdrawing himself and his clergy from the autho- 
rity of the secular princes. 

At that time the city of Rome, and the whole ecclesiastical 
; I states, as well as the greater part of Italy, were subject to the 

I kings of Germany, who, in virtue of their being kings of Italy 

: j and Roman emperors, nominated or confirmed the popes, and 

installed the prefects of Rome, who there received the power of 

} the sword in their name. They sent also every year commis- 

! sioners to Rome, to levy the money due to the royal treasury. 

I The popes used to date their acts from the years of the empe- 
ror's reign, and to stamp their coin with his name ; and all the 
higher clergy were virtually bound and subject to the secular 

j power, by the solemn investiture of the ring and the crosier. 
This investiture gave to the emperors and the other sovereigns 
the right of nominating and confirming bishops, and even of de- 
posing them if they saw cause. It gave them, moreover, the 
right of conferring, at their pleasure, those fiefs and royal pre- 
rogatives which the munificence of princes had vested in the 
Church. The emperors, in putting bishops and prelates in 
possession of these fiefs, used the symbols of the ring and the 
crosier, which were badges of honour belonging to bishops and 
abbots. They made them, at the same time, take the oath of 
fidelity and allegiance ; and this was the origin of their depen- 
dence, and their obligation to furnish their princes with troops, 
and to perform military service. 

Gregory VII. prohibited, under pain of excommunication, all 
sovereigns to exercise the rights of investiture, by a formal de- 
cree which he published in a council assembled at Rome in 1074. 
There was more than the simple ceremony of the ring and the 
crosier implied in this interdict. He aimed at depriving princes of 
the right of nominating, confirming, or deposing prelates, as well 
as of receiving their fealty and homage, and exacting military 
service. He thus broke all those ties by which the bishops 
were held in allegiance and subordination to princes ; making 
them, in this respect, entirely independent. In suppressing inf 
vestitures, the pontiff had yet a more important object in view. 
It was his policy to withdraw both himself and his successors, 
as well as the whole ecclesiastical state, from the power of the 
German kings ; especially by abolishing the right which these 
princes had so long exercised of nominating and confirming the 
Popes. He saw, in fact, that if he could succeed in rendering 
ihe clergy independent of the secular power, it would follow, by 
a natural consequence, that the Pope, as being supreme head of 



104 CHAPTER V. 

the clergy, would no longer be dependent on the emperors ; 
while the emperor, excluded from the nomination and investi- 
ture of bishops, would have still less right to interfere in the 
election of pontiffs. 

This affair, equally interesting to all sovereigns, was of the 
utmost importance to the kings of Germany, who had committed 
the unfortunate error of putting the greater part of their domains 
into the hands of ecclesiastics ; so that to divest those princes 
of the right to dispose of ecclesiastical fiefs, was in fact to de- 
prive them of nearly the half of their empire. The bishops, 
vainly flattering themselves with the prospect of an imaginary 
liberty, forgot the valuable gifts with which the emperors had 
loaded them, and enlisted under the banners of the Pope. They 
turned against the secular princes those arms which the latter 
had imprudently trusted in their hands. 

There yet subsisted another bond of union which connected 
the clergy with the civil and political orders of society, and 
gave them an interest in the protection of the secular authority, 
and that was, the marriages of the priests ; a custom in use at 
that time over a great part of the West, as it still is in the Greek 
and Eastern Churches. It is true, that the law of celibacy, al- 
ready recommended strongly by St. Augustine, had been adopted 
by the Romish Church, which neglected no means of introducing 
it by degrees into all the churches of the Catholic communion. 
It had met with better success in Italy and the south of Europe 
than in the northern countries ; and the priests continued to 
marry, not only in Germany, England, and the kingdoms of the 
North, but even in France, Spain, and Italy, notwithstanding 
the law of celibacy, which had been sanctioned in vain by a 
multitude of councils. 

Gregory VII., perceiving that, to render the clergj' completely 
dependent on the Pope, it would be necessary to break this 
powerful connexion, renewed the law of celibacy, in a council 
held at Rome (1074;) enjoining the married priests either to 
quit their wives, or renounce the sacerdotal order. The whole 
clergy murmured against ihe unfeeling rigour of this decree, 
which even excited tumult and insurrection in several countries 
of Germany ; and it required all the firmness of Gregory and 
his successors to abolish clerical marriages, and establish the 
law of celibacy throughout the Western churches.- In thus 
dissolving the secular ties of the clergy, it was far from the in- 
tention of Gregory VII. to render them independent. His designs 
were more politic, and more suitable to his ambition. He wished 
to make the clergy entiroly subservient to his own elevation, and 
even to employ them as an instrument to humble and subded 
the power of the princes. 



t ♦ PERIOD IV. A. D. 1074—1300. 105 

1 ! 

The path had already been opened up to him by the False 
Decretals, as they were called, forged about the beginning of the 
ninth century, by the famous impostor Isidore, who, with the 
view of diminishing the authority of the metropolitans, advanced 
in these letters, which he attributed to the early bishops of 
Rome, a principle whose main object was to extend the rights 
of the Romish See, and to vest in the popes a jurisdiction till 
then unknown in the church. Several Popes before Gregory 
VII. had already availed themselves of these False Decretals; ^ 
and they had even been admitted as true into different collec- 
tions of canons. Gregory did not content himself with rigidly 
enforcing the principles of the impostor Isidore. He went even 
farther ; he pretended to unite, in himself, the plenary exercise 
both of the ecclesiastical and episcopal power ; leaving nothing 
to the archbishops and bishops but the simple title of his lieu- 
tenants or vicars. He completely undermined the jurisdiction 
of the metropolitans and bishops, by authorizing in all cases an 
appeal to the Court of Rome ; reserving to himself exclusively 

! the cognizance of all causes termed major — including more es- 
pecially the privilege of judging and deposing of bishops. This 
latter privilege had always been vested in the provincial councils, 
who exercised it under the authority, and with the consent of 
the secular powers. Gregory abolished this usage ; and claimed 
for himself the power of judging the bishops, either in person 
or by his legates, to the exclusion of the Synodal Assemblies. 
He made himself master of these assemblies, and even arroga- 
ted the exclusive right of convocating General Councils. 

This pontiff", in a council which he held at Rome (1079,) at 
length prescribed a new oath, which the bishops were obliged 
to take ; the main object of which was not merely canonical 
obedience, but even fealty and homage, such as the prelates, as 
lieges, vowed to their sovereigns ; and which the pontiff" claimed 
for himself alone, bearing that they should aid and defend, 
against the whole world, his new supremacy, and what he called 
the royal rights of St. Peter. Although various sovereigns 

j maintained possession of the homage they received from their 

I bishops, the oath imposed by Gregory nevertheless retained its 
full force ; it was even augmented by his successors, and ex- 
tended to all bishops without distinction, in spite of its incon- 
sisiency with that which the bishops swore to their princes. 

' Another very effectual means which Gregory VII. made use 
of to confirm his new authority, was to send, more frequently 
than his predecessors had done, legates into the different states 
and kingdoms of Christendom. He made them a kind of gov- 
ernors of provinces, and invested them with the most ample 



106 



CHAPTER V. 



1 



powers These legates soon obtained a knowledge of all the 
affairs of the provinces delegated to their care ; which greatly 
impaired the authority of the metropolitans and provincial coun- 
cils, as well as the jurisdiction of the bishops. A clause was 
also inserted, in the form of the oath imposed on the bishops, 
which obliged them to furnish maintenance and support for 
these legates ; a practice which subsequently gave place to fre- 
quent exactions and impositions on their part. 

While occupied with the means of extending his power over 
the clergy, Gregory did not let slip any opportunity of making 
encroachments on the authority of princes and sovereigns, which 
he represented as subordinate to that of the Church and the 
Pope. As supreme head of the Church, he claimed a right of 
inspection over all kings and their governments. He deemed 
himself authorized to address admonitions to them, as to the 
method of ruling their kingdoms; and to demand of them an 
account of their conduct. By and by, he presumed to listen to 
the complaints of subjects against their princes, and claimed the 
right of being a judge or arbiter between them. In this capacity 
he acted towards Henry IV., emperor of Germany, who en- 
joyed the rights of sovereignty over Rome and the Pope. He 
summoned him to Rome (1076,) for the purpose of answering 
before the synod to the principal accusations which the nobles 
of Saxony, engaged in disputes with that prince, had referred to 
the Pope. The emperor, burning with indignation, and hurried 
on by the impetuosity of youth, instantly convoked an assembly 
of bishops at Worms, and there caused the pontiff to be deposed. 
No sooner was this sentence conveyed to Rome, and read in 
presence of the Pope in a council which he had assembled, than 
Gregory ventured on a step till then quite unheard of. He im- 
mediately thundered a sentence of excommunication and depo- 
sition against the Emperor, which was addressed to St. Peter, 
and couched in the following terms : — 

" In the name of Almighty God, I suspend and interdict from 
governing the kingdom of Germany and Italy, Henry, son of 
the emperor Henry, who, with a haughtiness unexampled, has 
dared to rebel against thy church. I absolve all Christians 
whatever from the oath which they have taken, or shall here- 
after take, to him ; and henceforth none shall be permitted lo do 
him homage or service as king; for he who would disobey the 
authority of thy Church, deserves to lose the dignity with which 
he is invested. And seeing this prince has refused to submit 
as a Christian, and has not returned to the Lord whom he hath 
forsaken, holding communion with the excommunicated, and 
despising the advice which I tendered him for the safety of his 



PERIOD IV. A. D. 1074—1300. 107 

soul, I load him with curses in thy name, to the end that peo- 
ple may know, even by experience, that thou art Peter, and that 
on this rock the Son of the living God has built his church; 
and that the gates of hell shall never prevail against it." 

This measure, which seemed at first to have been merely the 
efiect of the pontiff's impetuosity, soon discovered of what im- 
portance it was for him to persevere, and what advantage he 
might derive from it. In humbling the emperor, the most pow- 
erful monarch in Europe, he might hope that all the other 
sovereigns would bend before him. He omitted nothing, there- 
fore, that might serve to justify his conduct, and endeavoured 
to prove, by sophistries, that if he had authority to excommuni- 
cate the emperor, he might likewise deprive him of his dignity; 
and that the right to release subjects from their oath of allegi- 
ance was an emanation and a natural consequence of the power 
of the Keys. The same equivocal interpretation he afterwards 
made use of in a sentence which he published against the same 
prince (1080,) and which he addressed to the Apostles St. Peter 
and St. Paul, in these terms ; " You, fathers and princes of the 
apostles, hereby make known to the whole world, that if you 
can bind and unbind in heaven, you can much more, on earth, 
take from all men empires, kingdoms, principalities, dutchies, 
marquisates, counties, and possessions, of whatsoever nature 
they may be. You have often deprived the unworthy of patri- 
archates, primacies, archbishoprics, and bishoprics, to give them 
to persons truly religious. Hence, if you preside over spiritual 
affairs, does not your jurisdiction extend a fortiori to temporal 
and secular dignities ? and if you judge the angels who rule 
over princes and potentates, even the haughtiest, will you not 
also judge their slaves ? Let then the kings and princes of the 
earth learn how great and irresistible is your power ! Let them 
tremble to contemn the commands of your church ! And do you, 
blessed Peter, and blessed Paul, exercise, from this time forward, 
your judgment on Henry, that the whole earth may know that 
he has been humbled, not by any human contingencies, but solely 
by your power." Until that time, the emperors had exercised 
the right of confirming the Popes, and even of deposing them, 
should there be occasion ; but, by a strange reverse of preroga- 
tives, the popes now arrogated to themselves the confirmation of 
the emperors, and even usurped the right of dethroning them. 

However irregular this step of the pontiff might be, it did not 
fail to produce the intended effect. In an assembly of the Im- 
perial States, held at Tribur (1076,) the emperor could only 
obtain their consent to postpone their proceeding to a new 
election, and that on the express condition of his submitting 



I 



1 1 



108 CHAPTER V. 

himself to the judgment of the Pope, and being absolved immr- 
diately from the excommunication he had incurred. In conse- 
quence of this decision of the States, Henry crossed the Alps 
in the middle of winter, to obtain reconciliation with the Pope, 
who then resided with the famous Countess Matilda, at her 
Castle of Canossa, in the Modenese territory. Absolution was 
not granted him, however, except under conditions the most hu- 
miliating. He was compelled to do penance in an outer court 
of the castle, in a woollen shirt and barefooted, for three suc- 
cessive days, and afterwards to sign whatever terms the pontiff 
chose to prescribe. This extraordinary spectacle must have 
spread consternation among the sovereigns of Europe, and 
made them tremble at the censures of the Church. 

After this, Gregory VH. exerted his utmost influence to en- 
gage all sovereigns, without distinction, to acknowledge them- 
selves his vassals and tributaries. " Let not the emperor 
imagine," says he, in a letter which he wrote to the German 
nation, " that the church is subject to him as a slave, but let him 
know that she is set over him as a sovereign." From that time 
the pontiff" regarded the empire as a fief of his church ; and 
afterwards when setting up a rival emperor to Henry IV., in 
the person of Hermann of Luxemburg, he exacted from him a 
formal oath of vassalage. Gregory pursued the same conduct 
in regard to the other sovereigns of Europe. Boleslaus II., 
King of Poland, having killed Stanislaus Bishop of Cracow, 
who had ventured to excommunicate him, the pontiff took oc- 
casion from this to depose that prince; releasing all his sub- 
jects from their oath of fidelity, and even prohibiting the Polish 
bishops henceforth to crown any king without the express con- 
sent of the Pope. 

This aspiring pontiff" stuck at nothing; he regarded nothing, 
provided he could obtain his object. However contrary the 
customs of former times were to his pretensions, he quoted 
them as examples of authority, and with a boldness capable of 
imposing any thing on weak and ignorant minds. It was thus 
that, in order to oblige the French nation to pay him the tax of 
one penny each nouse, he alleged the example of Charlemagne, 
and pretended that that prince had not merely paid this tribute, 
but even granted Saxony as a fief to St. Peter ; as he had con- 
quered it with the assistance of that apostle. In writing to 
Philip I. of France, he expressed himself in these terms : 
" Strive to please St. Peter, who has thy kingdom as well as 
thy soul in his power ; and who can bind thee, and absolve in 
heaven as well as on earth." And in a letter which he addressed 
to the Princes of Spain, he attempted to persuade them, that the 



i PERIOD IV. A. D. 1074—1300 109 

1 1 

: , kingdom of Spain, being originally the property of the Holy 

See, they could not exonerate themselves from paying him a 

tax on all the lands they had conquered from the Infidels. 

' He affirmed to Solomon, King of Hungary, that Stephen L, 

on receiving his crown at the hands of Pope Silvester II., had 

1 1 surrendered his kingdom as free property to the Holy See ; and 

I j that, in virtue of this donation, his kingdom was to be considered 
I as a part of the domain of the church. He wrote in exactly the 

I I same style to Geysa his immediate successor. In one of his 
j I letters to Sueno, King of Dernnark, he enjoins him to deliver 
i 1 up his kingdom to the power of the Romish See. He refused 
: (1076,) to grant the royal dignity to Demetrius Swinimir, Duke 
I I of Croatia and Dalmatia, except on the express condixion, that 
: i he should do him homage for his kingdom, and engage to pay 
; ' the Pope an annual tribute of two hundred golden pieces of By- 
' zantium. This poniiffhad the art of disguising his ambition so 
, dexterously, under the mask of justice and piety, that he pre- 
, vailed with various other sovereigns to acknowledge themselves 
, I his vassals. Bertrand, Count of Provence, transferred to him 
. i his fealty and homage, to the prejudice of those feudal obliga- 
I j tions he owed to the Empire. Several princes of Italy and Ger 

i ; many, influenced by artifice or intimidation, abandoned the 

I I emperor, and put themselves under submission to the Pope. 

I j His efforts were not equally successful with William the Con- 
i j queror. King of England, whom he had politely invited by letter, 
: ■ to do him homage for his kingdom, after the manner of his royal 

I I predecessors. That prince, too wise to be duped by papal im- 
; ! position, replied, that he was not in ah^imour to perform homage 

I which he had never promised, and which he was not aware had 
; ' ever been performed by any of his predecessors. 

The successors of Gregory VII., followed in the path he had 
opened up ; giving their utmost support to all his maxims and pre- 

; ; tensions. In consequence, a very great number of the princes 

: j of Christendom, some intimidated by the thunders of ecclesias- 

' i tical anathemas, others with a view to secure for themselves 

; j the protection of the Holy See, acknowledged these usurped 

'■ I powers of the Popes. The Kings of Portugal, Arragon, England, 

j Scotland, Sardinia, the two Sicilies, and several others, became, 

[ I in course of time, vassals and tributaries to the Papal See ; and 

j there is not a doubt, that the universal monarchy, the scheme 

I ; of which Gregory VII. had conceived, would have been com- 

I I pletely established, if some of his successors had been endowed 
[ ! with his vast ambition, and his superior genius. 

In every other respect, circumstances were such as to hasten 

I ; and facilitate the progress of this new pontifical supremacy. It 



__Ji 



no CHAPTER V. 

had commenced in a barbarous age, when the whole of the 
Western world was covered with the darkness of ignorance ; 
and when mankind knew neither the just rights of sovereignty, 
nor the bounds which reason and equity should have set to the 
authority of the priesthood. The court of Rome was then the 
only school where politics were studied, and the Popes the only 
monarchs that put them in practice. An extravagant supersti- 
tion, the inseparable companion of ignorance, held all Europe 
in subjection ; the Popes were reverenced with a veneration 
resembling that which belongs only to the Deity ; and the whole 
world trembled at the utterance of the single word Excommu- 
nication. Kings were not sufficiently powerful to oppose any 
successful resistance to the encroachments of Rome ; their au- 
thority was curtailed and counteracted by that of their vassals, 
who seized with eagerness every occasion which the Popes 
offered them, to aggrandize their own prerogatives at the expense 
of the sovereign authority. 

The Emperor of Germany, who was alone able to countervail 
this new spiritual tyranny, was at open war with his grand vas- 
sals, whose usurpations he was anxious to repress; while they, 
disrespecting the majesty of the throne, and consulting only 
their own animosity against the emperor, blindly seconded the 
pretensions of the pontiff. The emperor, however, did all in 
his power to oppose a barrier to this torrent of ecclesiastical 
despotism ; but the insolence of Gregory became so extrava- 
gant, that, not content to attack him with spiritual weapons, he 
set up rival emperors, and excited intestine wars against him ; 
and his successors even went so far as to arm the sons against 
their own father. Such was the origin of the contests which 
arose between the Empire and the Papacy, under the reign of 
Henry IV., and which agitated both Germany and Italy for a 
period of several centuries. They gave birth, also, to the two 
factions of the Guelphs and the Ghibellines, the former Imperial, 
and the other Papal, who for a long course of time tore each 
other to pieces with inconceivable fury. 

Henry V., son and successor of Henry IV., terminated the 
grand dispute about the investitures of the ring and the crosier. 
By the Concordat which he concluded at Worms (1122) with 
Pope Calixtus II., he renounced the ceremony of the ring and 
the cross ; and granting to the churches free liberty of election, 
he reserved nothing to himself, except the privilege of sending 
commissioners to the elections, and giving to the newly elected 
prelates, after consecration, the investiture of the regaiian rights, 
by means of the sceptre, instead of the ring and crosier. The 
ties of vassalage which connected the bishops with the eropc- 



; 



- 1 
I ' 



PERIOD IV. A. D. 1074 — 1300. Ill 



rors, were still preserved by this transaction, contrary to the in- j 
tentions of Gregory VII. ; bat the emperors being obliged to i 
approve of the persons whom the Church should hereafter pre- 
sent, lost their chief influence in the elections, and were no 
longer entitled, as formerly, to grant or refuse investiture. j 

These broils with the courr, of Rome, the check which they ' 
gave to the Imperial authority, joined to the increasing abuses ] 
of the feudal system, afforded the princes and states of the Em- 
pire the means of usurping the heritable succession of their 
dutchies, counties, and fiefs ; and of laying the foundations of a 
new power, which they afterwards exercised under the name of 
territorial superiority. Frederic II., compelled by the pressure j 
of events, was the first emperor that sanctioned the territorial 
rights of the states by charters, which he delivered to several 
princes, secular and ecclesiastic, in the years 1220 and 1232. 
The Imperial dignity thus lost its splendour with the power of 
the emperors ; and the constitution of the Empire was totally 
changed. That vast monarchy degenerated by degrees into a 
kind of federal system ; and the Emperor, in course of time, 
became only the common chief, and superior over the numerous 
vassals of which that association was composed. The extra- 
ordinary efforts made by the Emperors Frederic I. and II. of the 
house of Hohenstaufen,^ to re-establish the tottering throne of 
the empire, ended in nothing; and that House, one of the most 
powerful in Europe, was deprived of all its crowns, and perse- ! ' 
cuted even to the scaffold. 

The empire thus fell into gradual decay, while the pontifical 
power, rising on its ruins, gained, day by day, new accessions 
of strength. The successors of Gregory VII. omitted nothing 
that policy could suggest to them, in order to humble more and i ' 
more the dignity of the Emperors, and to bring them into a state ' ' 
of absolute dependence, by arrogating to themselves the express 
right of confirming, and even of deposing them ;^ and com- i j 
pelling them to acknowledge their feudal superiority. Being i i 
thus no longer obliged to submit their election to the arbitration \ ' 
of the Imperial court, the ambitious pontiffs soon aspired to 
absolute sovereignty. ji 

The custom of dating their acts, and coining their money ! i 
with the stamp and name of the emperor, disappeared after 
the time of Gregory VII. ; and the authority which the empe- 
rors had exercised at Rome, ceased entirely with the loss of the 
prefecture or government of that city ; which Pope Innocent III. 
look into his own hands (1198,) obliging the prefect of Rome 
to swear the usual oath of homage to the Apostolic See, vi^hich 
that magistrate owed to the emperor, from whom he received 



1 1 



ir 



112 



CHAPTER V. 



the prefecture. Hence it happened, that the chiefs of the Em- 
pire, obliged to compromise with a power which they had learned 
to dread, had no longer any difficulty in recognising the entire 
independence of the Popes ; even formally renouncing the 
rights of high sovereignly which their predecessors had enjoyed, 
not only over Rome, but over the Ecclesiastical States. The 
domains of the church were likewise considerably increased 
by the acquisitions which Innocent III. made of the March 
of Ancona, and the dutchy of Spoleto ; as well as by the per- 
sonal property or Patrimony of the Countess Matilda,^ which 
the Emperor Frederic II. ceded to Honorius III. (1220,) and 
which his successors in the Apostolic chair formed into the pro- 
vince known by the name of the Patrimony of St. Peter. 

One of the grand means which the Popes employed for the 
advancement of their new authority, was the multiplication of 
Religious Orders, and the way in which they took care to man- 
age these corporations. Before the time of Gregory VII., the 
only order known in the West was that of the Benedictines, 
divided into several families or congregations. The rule of St. 
Benedict, prescribed at the Council of Aix-la-Chapelle (817) to 
all monks within the empire of the Franks, was the only one 
allowed by the Romish Church; just as that of St. Basil was, 
and still is, the only one practised in the East by the Greek 
Church. The first of these newly invented orders was that of 
Grammont in Limosin (1073.) authorized by Pope Gregory VII. 
This was followed, in the same century, by the order of Char- 
treux, and that of St. Antony." The Mendicant orders took 
their rise under Innocent III., near the end of the twelfth, and 
beginning of the thirteenth century. Their number increased 
in a short time so prodigiously, that, in 1274, they could reckon 
twenty-three orders. The complaints which were raised on this 
subject from all parts of Christendom, obliged Pope Gregory to 
reduce them, at the Council of Lyons, to four orders, viz. the 
Hermits of St. William or Augustines, Carmelites, the Minor 
or Franciscan friars, and the Preaching or Dominican friars. 
The Popes, perceiving that they might convert the monastic 
orders, and more particularly the mendicants, into a powerfii 
engine for strengthening their own authority, and keeping the 
secular clergy in subjection, granted by degrees to these frater- 
nities, immunities and exemptions tending to withdraw them 
from the jurisdiction of the bishops, and to emancipate them 
from every other authority, except that of their Heads, and the 
Popes. They even conferred on them various privileges, such 
as those of preaching, confession, and instructing the young; 
33 being the most likely means to augment their credit and their 



PERIOD IV. A. D. 1074—1300. 113 

influence. The consequence was, that the monks were fre- 
quently employed by the Popes in quality of legates and mis- 
sionaries ; they were feared and respected by sovereigns, sin- 
gularly revered by the people, and let slip no occasion of exalting 
a power to which alone they owed their promotion, their re- 
spectability, and all the advantages they enjoyed. 

Of all the successors of Gregory VII., he who resembled him 
most in the superiority of his genius, and the extent of his 
knowledge, was Innocent III., who was of the family of the 
Counts of Segni, and elevated to the pontificate at the age of 
37. He was as ambitious as that pontiff, and equally fertile 
in resources ; and he even surpassed him in the boldness of 
his plans, and the success of his enterprises. Innocent an- 
nounced himself as the successor of St. Peter, set up by God 
to govern not only the Church, but the lohole world. It was 
this Pope who first made use of the famous comparison about 
the sun and the moon : As God, says he, has placed two great 
luminaries in the firmament, the one to rule the day, and the 
other to give light by night, so has he established two grand 
powers, the pontifical and the royal ; and as the moon receives 
her light from the sun, so does royalty borrow its splendour 
from the Papal authority. 

Not content to exercise the legislative power as he pleased, 
by moans of the numerous decretals which he dispersed over 
all Christendom, this pontiff was the first that arrogated to him- 
self the prerogative of dispensing with the laws themselves, 
in virtue of what he termed the plenitude of his power. It is 
to him also that the origin of the Inquisition is ascribed, that 
terrible tribunal which afterwards became the firmest prop of 
sacerdotal despotism ; but what is of more importance to re- 
mark, is, that he laid the foundations of that exorbitant power, 
which his successors have since exercised in collating or pre- 
senting to ecclesiastical dignities and benefices. 

The secular princes having been deprived of their rights of 
nomination and confirmation, by the decrees of Gregory VII. 
and his successors, the privilege of electing bishops was re- 
stored to the clergy and congregation of each church, and to 
the chapters of convents ; the confirmation of the elected pre- 
lates belonged to their immediate superiors ; and collation to 
the other ecclesiastical benefices was reserved for the bishops 
and ordinaries. All these regulations were changed towards 
the end of the twelfth century. The canons of cathedral 
churches, authorized by the Court of Rome, claimed to them- 
selves the right of election, to the exclusion of the clergy and 
the pe pie ; while the Popes, gradually interfering with elec- 

8 



114 



CHAPTER V. 



iions and collations, found means to usurp the nomination and 
collation to almost all ecclesiastical benefices. The principle 0/ 
these usurpations was founded on the false decretals ; accord- 
ing to which all ecclesiastical jurisdiction emanates from the 
court of Rome, as a river flows from its source. It is from the 
Pope that archbishops and bishops hold that portion of authori- 
ty with which they are endowed ; and of which he does not 
divest himself, by the act of communicating it to them; but is 
rather the more entitled to co-operate with them in the exercise 
of that jurisdiction as often as he may judge proper. 

This principle of a conjunct authority, furnished a very plau- 
sible pretext for the Popes to interfere in collation to benefices. 
This collation, according to the canon law, being essential to 
the jurisdiction of bishops, it seemed natural that the Pope, 
who concurred in the jurisdiction, should also concur in the 
privileges derived from it, namely, induction or collation to be- 
nefices. From the right of concurrence, therefore, Innocent III. 
proceeded to that o( prevention, he'mg the first pontiff that made 
use of it. He exercised that right, especially with regard to 
benefices which had newly become vacant by the death of their 
incumbents, when at the Court of Rome; in which cases it 
was easy to anticipate or get the start of the bishops. In the 
same manner, this right was exercised in remote dioceses, by 
means of legates a latere, which he dispersed over the different 
provinces of Christendom. 

From the right of prevention were derived the provisional 
mandates, and the Grdces Expectatives, (reversionary grants or 
Bulls) letters granting promise of church livings before they 
became vacant. The Popes not having legates every where, 
and wishing, besides, to treat the bishops with some respect, 
began by addressing to them letters of recommendation in fa- 
vour of those persons for whom they were anxious to procure 
benefices. These letters becoming too frequent and importu- 
nate, the bishops ventured to refuse their compliance ; on which 
the Popes began to change their recommendations into orders 
or mandates ; and appointed commissioners to enforce their 
execution by means of ecclesiastical censures. These man- 
dates were succeeded by the Grdces Expectatives, which, pro- 
perly speaking, were nothing else than mandates issued for be- 
nefices, whose titulars or incumbents were yet alive. Lastly 
appeared the Reservation's, which were distinguished into ge- 
neral and special. The first general reservation was that of 
benefices becoming vacant by the incumbents dying at the Court 
of Rome. This was introduced by Pope Clement IV. in 
1265, in order to exclude for ever the bishops from the right of 
concurrence and prevention in benefices of thnt kind. 



PERIOD IV. A. D. 1074—1300. 116 

This first reservation was the forerunner of several others, 
.such as the reservation of all cathedral churches, abbeys, and 
priories ; as also of the highest dignities in cathedral and colle- 
giate churches ; and of all collective benefices, becoming vacant 
during eight months in the year, called the Papers months, so 
that only four months remained for the ordinary collators ; and 
these too, encroached upon by mandates, expectatives, and re- 
servations. The Popes having thus seized the nomination to 
episcopal dignities, it followed, by a simple and natural process, 
that the conJirmatio?i of all prelates, without distinction, was in 
like manner reserved for them. It would have even been reck- 
oned a breach of decorum to address an archbishop, demanding 
from him the confirmation of a bishop nominated by the Pope ; 
so that this point of common right, which vested the confirma- 
tion of every prelate in his immediate superior, was also anni* 
hilated ; and the Romish See was at length acknowledged ovei 
the whole Western world, as the only source of all jurisdiction, 
and all ecclesiastical power. 

An extraordinary event, the offspring of that superstitious age, 
served still more to increase the power of the Popes ; and that 
was the Crusades, which the nations of Europe undertook, at 
their request and by their orders, for the conquest of Palestine 
or the Holy Land. These expeditions, known by the name of 
Holy Wars, because religion was made the pretext or occasion 
of them, require a somewhat particular detail, not merely of the 
circumstances that accompanied them, but also of the changes 
which they introduced into the moral and political condition of 
society. Pilgrimages to Jerusalem, which were in use from 
the earliest ages of Christianity, had become very frequent about 
the beginning of the eleventh century. The opinion which then 
very generally prevailed, that the end of the world was at hand, 
induced vast numbers of Christians to sell their possessions in 
Europe, in order that they might set out for the Holy Land, 
there to await the coming of the Lord. So long as the Arabs 
were masters of Palestine, they protected these pilgrimages, 
from which they derived no small emoluments. But when the 
Seljukian Turks, a barbarous and ferocious people, had con- 
quered that country (1075) under the Caliphs of Egypt, the pil- 
grims saw themselves exposed to every kind of insult and op- 
pression.^ The lamentable accounts which they gave of these 
outrages on their return to Europe, excited the general indigna- 
tion, and gave birth to the romantic notion of expelling these 
Infidels from the Holy Land. 

Gregory VII. was the projector of this grand scheme. He 
addressed circular letters to all the sovereigns of Europe, and 



116 CHAPTER V. 

invited them to make a general crusade against the Turks. 
Meantime, however, more pressing interests, and his quarrels 
with the Emperor Henry IV., obliged him to defer the projected 
enterprise ; but his attention was soon recalled to it by the re- 
presentation of a pilgrim, called Peter the Hermit, a native of 
Amiens in Picardy. Furnished with letters from the Patriarch 
of Jerusalem to "the Pope and the princes of the West, this 
ardent fanatic traversed the whole of Italy, France, and Germa- 
ny ; preaching every where, and representing, in the liveliest 
colours, the profanation of the sacred places, and the miserable 
condition of the Christians and poor pilgrims in the Holy Land. 
It proved no difficult task for him to impart to others the fanati- 
cism with which he was himself animated. His zeal was pow- 
erfully seconded by Pope Urban II., who repaired in person to 
France, where he convoked the council of Clermont (1095,) and 
pronounced, in full assembly, a pathetic harangue, at the close 
of which they unanimously resolved on the Holy War. It was 
decreed, that all who should enrol their names in this sacred 
militia, should wear a red cross on their right shoulder : that 
they should enjoy plenary indulgence, and obtain remission of 
all their sins. 

From that time the pulpits of Europe resounded with exhor- 
tations to the crusades. People of every rank and condition 
were seen flocking in crowds to assume the signal of the cross ; 
and, in the following year, innumerable bands of crusaders, from 
the different countries of Europe, set out, one after another, on 
this expedition to the East.^ The only exception was the Ger- 
mans, who partook but feebly of this universal enthusiasm, on 
account of the disputes which then subsisted between the Em- 
peror and the court of Rome.^*^ The three or four first divisions 
of the crusaders, under the conduct o^ chiefs, who had neither 
name nor experience, marched without order and without disci- 
pline ; pillaging, burning, and wasting the countries through 
which they passed. Most of them perished from fatigue, hun- 
ger, or sickness, or by the sword of the exasperated nations, 
whose territories they had laid desolate.^* 

To these unwarlike and undisciplined troops succeeded regu- 
lar armies, commanded by experienced officers, and powerful 
princes. Godfrey of Bouillon (1096,) Duke of Lorrain, accom- 
panied by his brother Baldwin, and his cousin Baldwin of Bourg, 
with a vast retinue of noblemen, put himself at the head of the 
first body of crusaders. He directed his march through Ger- 
many, Hungary, and Bulgaria, towards Constantinople, and 
was soon followed by several French princes, such as Hugh the 
Great, brother of Philip I. King of France ; Robert Duke of 



PERIOD IV. A. D. 1074— 1300. 117 

Normandy, son of William the Conqueror ; Stephen VI., Count 
of Blois ; Eustace of Boulogne, brother to Godfrey de Bouillon, 
and Robert Count of Flanders, who all preferred the route by 
Italy. They passed the winter in the environs of Bari, Brin- 
disi, and Otranto ; and did not embark for Greece until the fol- 
lowing spring. Boemond, Prince of Tarentum, son to Roger, 
Earl of Sicily, at the instigation of the French grandees, took 
the cross, after their example, and carried with him into the 
East the flower of the Normans, and the noblesse of Sicily, 
Apulia, and Calabria. Lastly, Raymond IV., Count of Tou- 
louse, accompanied by the Bishop of Puy, traversed Lombardy, 
Friuli, and Dalmatia, on his passage to the Holy Land. 

The general rendezvous of the crusaders was at Chalcedon 
in Bythinia. It is supposed that their forces united, amounted 
to six hundred thousand combatants. They commenced their 
exploits with the siege of Nice, capital of the empire of Roum, 
^of which they made themselves master, after having repulsed the 
Turks who had advanced under the command of the Sultan 
Kili-Arslan, the son of Soliman, premier sultan of Roum. Ano- 
ther victory gained over the same sultan (1097) in the Gorgo- 
nian valley in Bythinia, opened for the crusaders a passage into 
Syria. There they undertook the siege of the strong city of 
Antioch, which they carried after an immense loss of lives (1098.) 
Having at length arrived in Palestine, they planned the attack 
of Jerusalem, which the Caliph of Egypt had just recovered 
from the Turks ; and which the crusaders, in their turn, carried 
by assault from the Egyptians (1099.) This city was declared 
the capital of a new kingdom, the sovereignty of which was be- 
stowed on Godfrey of Bouillon, though he refused to take the 
title of king. This famous prince extended his conquests by a 
splendid victory, which he gained that same year near Ascalon, 
over the Caliph of Egypt. On his death, his brother Baldwin 
succeeded him, and transmitted the throne to his cousin Bald- 
win of Bourg, whose posterity reigned in Jerusalem until the 
destruction of that kingdom by Saladin (1187.) 

Besides the kingdom of Jerusalem, which comprehended Pa- 
lestine, with the cities of Sidon, Tyre, and Ptolemais, the cru- 
saders founded several other states in the East. The earldom 
of Edessa, first conquered by Baldwin, brother of Godfrey, 
passed to several French princes in succession until the year 
1144, when it was subdued by Atabek-Zenghi commonly called 
Sanguin. The principality of Antioch fell to the share of Boe- 
mond, prince of Tarentum, whose heirs and descendants added 
to it, in 1188, the County of Tripoli, which had been founded 
(1110) by Raymond, Count of Toulouse, one of the crusaders. 



I 1 

1 ; 

I' 
I 



Jiy CHAPTER V. 

But they were deprived both of the one and the other of these 
sovereignties by the Mamelukes in 1268, uho afterwards (1289) 
conquered Antioch and Tripoli. Lastly, the kingdom of Cyprus 
which Richard Coeur-de-Lion, King of England, took from the 
Greeks (1191,) was surrendered by that prince to Guy de Lu- 
signan, whose posterity reigned in Cyprus till the year 1487, 
when that island was taken possession of by the republic of 

Venice. 

The transient duration of these difTerent states, presents no- 
thing suprising. The Christians of the East, disunited among 
themselves, surrounded on all hands, and incessantly attacked 
by powerful nations, found themselves too remote from Europe 
to obtain from that quarter any prompt or effective succour. It 
was, therefore, impossible for them long to withstand the efforts 
of the Mahometans, who were animated as well as the Chris- 
tians by a sectarian zeal, which led them to combine their forces 
against the enemies of their religion and their prophet. The 
enthusiasm of religious wars did not however become extinct 
until nearly two centuries. It was encouraged and supported 
by the numerous privileges which popes and sovereigns con- 
ferred on the invaders, and by the rich endowments that were 
made in their favour. All Europe continued to be in motion, 
and all its principal sovereigns marched in their turn to the 
East, either to attempt new conquests, or maintain those which 
the first crusaders had achieved. 

Six grand crusades succeeded to the first ; all of which were 
either fruitless, or at least without any important and durable 
success. Conrad III., Emperor of Germany, and Louis VII., 
King of France, undertook the second (1147,) on account of the 
conquests of Atabek-Zenghi, who, three years before, had made 
himself master of Edessa. The third (1189) was headed by 
the Emperor Frederic I., surnamed Barbarossa ; Philip Augus- 
tus King of France ; and Richard Coeur-de-Lion of England; 
and the occasion of it, was the taking of Jerusalem by the fa- 
mous Saladin (1187.) The fourth was undertaken (1202,) at 
the pressing instigation of Innocent III. Several of the French 
and German nobility imiting with the Venetians, assumed the 
cross under the command of Boniface, Marquis of Montferrat ; 
but instead of marching to Palestine, they ended their expedi- 
tion by taking Constantinople from the Greeks. The fifth cru- 
sade (1217) was conducted by Andrew, King of Hungary, at- 
tended by many of the princes and nobility of Germany, who 
had enlisted under the banner of the Cross in consequence of 
the decrees of the council of Lateran (1215.) The Emperor 
Frederic II. undertook the sixth (1228.) By a treaty which he 



PERIOD IV. A. D. 1074—1300. 119 

concJuded with the Sultan of Egypt, he obtained the restoration 
of Jerusalem and several other cities of Palestine ; although 
they did not long continue in his possession. The Carizniian 
Turks, oppressed by the Moguls, seized on the Holy Land 
(1244,) and pillaged and burnt Jerusalem. That famous city, 
together with the greater part of Palestine, fell afterwards under 
the dominion of the Sultans of Egypt. 

The seventh and last grand crusade, was undertaken by Louis 
IX. King of France (1248.) He conceived it necessary to be- 
gin his conquests by that of Egypt; but his design completely 
miscarried. Being made prisoner with his army after the action 
at Mansoura (12e50,) he only obtained his liberty by restoring 
Damietta, and paying a large ransom to the Sultan of Egypt, 
The unfortunate issue of this last expedition, slackened the zeal 
of the Europeans for crusading. Still, however, they retained 
two important places on the coast of Syria, the cities of Tyre 
and Ptolemais. But these places having been conquered by the 
Mamelukes (1291,) there was no longer any talk about crusades 
to the East ; and all the attempts of the Court of Rome to revive 
them proved ineffectual. 

It now remains for us briefly to notice the effects which re- 
sulted from the crusades, with regard to the social and political 
state of the nations in Western Europe. One consequence of 
these, was the aggrandizement of the Roman Pontiffs, who, 
during the whole period of the crusades, played the part of su- 
preme chiefs and sovereign masters of Christendom. It was at 
their request, as we have seen, that those religious wars were 
undertaken j it was they who directed them by means of their 
legates, — who compelled emperors and kings, by the terror of 
their spiritual arms, to march under the banner of the Cross — 
who taxed the clergy at their pleasure, to defray the expenses 
of these distant expeditions, — who took under their immediate 
protection the persons and effects of the Crusaders, and eman- 
cipated them, by means of special privileges, from all depend- 
ence on any power, civil or judiciary. The wealth of the clergy 
was considerably increased during the time of which we speak, 
both by the numerous endowments which took place, and by 
the acquisition which the Church made of the immense landed 
property which the pious owners sold them on assuming the 
badge of the Cross. 

These advantages which the See of Rome drew from the 
crusades in the East, were inducements to undertake similar 
expeditions in the West and North of Europe. In these quar- 
ters we find that the wars of the cross were carried on, 1. 
Agamst the Mahometans of Spain and Africa. 2 Against the 



120 



CHAPTER V. 



Emperors and Kings who refused obedience to the orders of the 
Popes. ^2 3. Against heretical or schismatic princes, such as the 
Greeks and Russians, 4. Against the Slavonians and other 
Pagan nations, on the coasts of the Baltic. 5. Against the 
Waldenses, Albigenses, and Hussites, who were regarded as 
heretics. 6. Against the Turks. 

If the result of the crusades was advantageous to the hier- 
archy, if it served to aggrandize the power of the Roman Pon- 
tiffs, it must, on the contrary, have proved obviously prejudicial 
to the authority of the secular princes. It was in fact during 
this period that the power of the emperors, both in Germany 
and Italy, was sapped to the very foundation ; that the royal 
house of Hohenstaufen sunk under the determined efforts of the 
Court of Rome ; and that the federal system of the Empire gained 
gradual accessions of strength. In England and Hungary, we 
observe how the grandees seized on the opportunity to increase 
their own power. The former took advantage of their sove- 
reign's absence in the Holy Land, and the latter of the protec- 
tion which they received from the Popes, to claim new privi- 
leges and extort charters, such as they did from John of England, 
and Andrew II. of Hungary, tending to cripple and circumscribe 
the royal authority. 

In France, however, the result was different. There, the 
kings being freed, by means of the crusades, from a crowd of 
restless and turbulent vassals who often threw the kingdom into 
a state of faction and discord, were left at liberty to extend their 
prerogatives, and turn the scale of power in their own favour. 
They even considerably augmented their royal and territorial 
revenues, either by purchasing lands and fiefs from the proprie- 
tors v/ho had armed in the cause of the cross ; or by annexing 
to the crown the estates of those who died in the Holy Land, 
without leaving feudal heirs ; or by seizing the forfeitures oJ 
others who were persecuted by religious fanaticism, as heretics 
or abettors of heresy. Finally, the Christian kings of Spain, 
the sovereigns of the North, the Knights of the Teutonic order, 
and of Livonia, joined the crusades recommended by the Popes, 
uom the desire of conquest; the' former, to subdue the Ma- 
hometans in Spain, and the others to vanquish the Pagan 
nations of the North, the Slavonians, Finns, Livonians, Prus- 
sians, Lithuanians, and Courlanders. 

It is to the crusades, in like manner, that Europe owes the 
use of surnames, as well as of armorial bearings, and heraldry. '^ 
It is easy to perceive, that among these innumerable armies of 
crusaders, composed of different nations and languages, some 
mark or symbol was necessary, in order to distinguish particular 



PERIOD IV. A. D. 1074—1300. 121 

nations, or signalize their commanders. Surnames and coats 
of arms were employed as these distinctive badges ; the latter 
especially were invented to serve as rallying points, for the vas- 
sals and troops of the crusading chiefs. Necessity first intro- 
duced them, and vanity afterwards caused them to be retained. 
These coats of arms were hoisted on their standards, the knights 
got them emblazoned on their shields, and appeared with them 
at tournaments. Even those who had never been at the cru- 
sades, became ambitious of these distinctions ; which may be 
considered as permanently established in families, from about 
the middle of the thirteenth century. 

The same enthusiasm that inspired the Europeans for the 
crusades, contributed in like manner to bring tournaments into 
vogue. In these solemn and military sports, the young noblesse 
were trained to violent exercises, and to the management of 
heavy arms ; so as to gain them some reputation for valour, and 
to insure their superiority in war. In order to be admitted to 
these tournaments it was necessary to be of noble blood, and to 
show proofs of their nobility. The origin of these feats is ge- 
nerally traced back to the end of the tenth, or beginning ol 
the eleventh century. Geoffrey of Preuilly, whom the writers 
of the middle ages cite as being the inventor of them, did no 
more, properly speaking, than draw up their code of regula- 
tions. France was the country from which the practice o 
tournaments diffused itself over all other nations of Europe. 
They were very frequent, during all the time that the crusading 
mania lasted. 

To this same epoch belongs the institution of Religious and 
Military Orders. These were originally established for the 
purpose of defending the new Christian States in the East, for 
protecting pilgrims on their journey, taking care of them when 
sick, &c.; and the vast wealth which they acquired in most of the 
kingdoms of Europe, preserved their existence long after the 
loss of the Holy Land ; and some of these orders even made 
a conspicuous figure in the political history of the Western 
nations. 

Of all these, the first and most distinguished was the Ordet 
of St. John of Jerusalem, called afterwards the Order of Mal- 
ta. Prior to the first crusade, there had existed at Jerusalem a 
church of the Latin or Romish liturgy, dedicated to St. Mary, 
and founded by some merchants of Amalfi in the kingdom of 
Naples. There was also a monastery of the Order of St, Be- 
nedict, and a hospital for the relief of the poor or afflicted pii 
grims. This hospital, the directors of which were appointed 
by the Abbot of St. Mary's, having in a very short time become 



f I 



122 CHAPTER V. 

immensely rich by numerous donations of lands and seignories, 
both in Europe and Palestine, one of its governors named Ge- 
rard, a native of Martigues in Provence, as is alleged, took the 
reo-ular habit (1100,) and formed with his brethren a distinct 
conoregaiion, under the name and protection of St. John the 
Baptist. Pope Pascal II., by a bull issued in 1114, approved 
of this new establishment, and ordained, that after the death of 
Gerard, the Hospitallers alone should have the election of their 
superintendent. Raymond du Puy, a gentleman from Dau- 
phine, and successor to Gerard, was the first that took the title 
of Grand Master. He prescribed a rule for the Hospitallers ; 
and Pope Calixtus II., in approving of this rule (1120,) divided 
the members of the order into three classes. The nobles, called 
Knights of Justice, were destined for the profession of arms, 
making war on the Infidels, and protecting pilgrims. The 
priests and chaplains, selected from the respectable citizens, 
were intrusted with functions purely ecclesiastical ; while the 
serving brethren, who formed the third class, were charged with 
the care of sick pilgrims, and likewise to act in the capacity of 
soldiers. These new knights were known by the name of 
Knights of the Hospital of St. John of Jerusalem, and were dis- 
tinguished by wearing a white octagon cross on a black habit. 

After the final loss of the Holy Land, this order established 
themselves in the Isle of Cyprus. From this they passed into 
Rhodes, which they had conquered from the Infidels (1310.) 
This latter island they kept possession of till 1522; and being 
then expelled by Soliman the Great, they obtained (1530) from 
Charles V., the munificent grant of the Isle of Malta, under the 
express terms of making war against the Infidels. Of this place 
they were at length deprived by Buonaparte in 1798. 

The order of Templars followed nearly that of St. John. Its 
first founders (1119) were some French gentlemen; the chief 
of whom were Hugo de Payens, and Geoffrey de St. Omer. 
Having made a declaration of their vows before the Patriarch 
of Jerusalem, they took upon themselves the special charge of 
maintaining free passage and safe conduct for the pilgrims to 
the Holy Land. Baldwin, king of Jerusalem, assigned them 
an apartment in his palace, near the temple, whence they took 
the name of Knights of the Temple, and Templars. They ob- 
tained from Pope Honorius II. (1120) a rule, with a white habit; 
to which Eugene III. added a red cross octagon. This order, 
after accumulating vast wealth and riches, especially in France, 
and distinguishing themselves by their military exploits for 
nearly two centuries, were at length suppressed by the CounciJ 
of Vienna (1312.) 



PERIOD IV. A. D. 1074—1300. 123 

The Teutonic order, according to the most probable opinion, 
took its origin in the camp before Acre, or Ptolemais. The 
honour of it is ascribed to some charitable citizens of Bremen 
and Lubec, who erected a hospital or tent with the sails of their 
vessels, for the relief of the numerous sick and wounded of their 
nation. Several German gentlemen having joined in this esta- 
blishment, ihey devoted themselves by a vow to the service of 
the sick ; as also to the defence of the Holy Land against the 
Infidels. This order, known by the name of the Teutonic 
Knights of St. Mary of Jerusalem, received confirmation from 
Pope Celestin III. (1192,) who prescribed for them the rule of 
the Hospital of St. John, with regard to their attendance on the 
sick; and with regard to chivalry or knighthood, that of the 
order of Templars. Henry Walpott de Passenheim was the 
first grand master of the order ; and the new knights assumed 
the white habit, with ablack cross, to distinguish them from the 
other orders. It was under their fourth grand master, Hermann 
de Saltza (1230,) that they passed into Prussia, which they 
conquered (1309.) They fixed their chief residence at Marien- 
burg; but having lost Prussia in consequence of a change in 
the religious sentiments of their grand master, Albert de Bran- 
denburg (1528,) they transferred their capital to Mergentheim 
in Franconia. 

A fourth order of Hospitallers founded in the Holy Land, was 
that of St. Lazarus of Jerusalem, who had for their principal 
object the treatment of lepers ;^* and who, in process of time, 
from a medical, became a military order. After having long 
resided in the East, where they distinguished themselves in the 
Holy wars, they followed St. Louis into France (1254,) and 
fixed their chief seat at Boigny, near Orleans. Pope Gregory 
XIII. united them with the order of St. Maurice, in Savoy; 
and Henry IV. with that of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, in 
France. On the model, and after the example of these four 
military orders, several others were founded in succession, in 
various kingdoms of Europe. ^'^ All these institutions contri- 
buted greatly to the renown of chivalry, so famous in the Middle 
Ages. The origin of this latter institution is earlier than the 
times of which we now speak, and seems to belong to the tenth, 
or the beginning of the eleventh century. The anarchy of feu- 
dalism being then at its height, and robberies and private quar- 
rels every where prevailing, several noble and distinguished 
individuals, devoted themselves, by a solemn vow, according to 
the genius of the times, to the defence of religion and its minis- 
ters ; as also of the fair sex, and of every person suffering from 
distress or oppression From the end of the eleventh century, 



I 



I 



1 1 
1 1 



L24 



CHAPTER V. 



10 the time when the crusades began, we find chivalry, with its 
pomp and its ceremonies, established in all the principal states 
of Europe. This salutary institution, by inspiring the minds 
of men with new energy, gave birth to many illustrious cha- 
racters. It tended to repress the disorders of anarchy, to revive 
order and law, and establish a new relationship among the na- 
tions of Europe. 

In general, it may be said, that these ultra-marine expeditions; 
prosecuted with obstinacy for nearly two hundred years, hasten- 
ed the progress of arts and civilization in Europe. The cru- 
saders, journeying through kingdoms better organized than 
their own, and observing greater refinement in their laws and 
manners, were necessarily led to form new ideas, and acquire 
new information with regard to science and politics. Some 
vestiges of learning and good taste had been preserved in Greece, 
and even in the extremities of Asia, where letters had been 
encouraged by the patronage of the Caliphs. The city of Con- 
stantinople, which had not yet suffered from the ravages of the 
barbarians, abounded in the finest monuments of art. It pre- 
sented to the eyes of the crusaders, a spectacle of grandeur and 
magnificence that could not but excite their admiration, and call 
forth a strong desire to imitate those models, the sight of which 
at once pleased and astonished them. To the Italians especially, 
it must have proved of great advantage. The continued inter- 
course which they maintained with the East and the city of 
Constantinople, afforded them the means of becoming familiar 
with the language and literature of the Greeks, of communica- 
ting the same taste to their own countrymen, and in this way 
advancing the glorious epoch of the revival of letters. 

About the same time, commerce and navigation were making 
considerable progress. The cities of Italy, such as Venice, 
Genoa, Pisa, and others, in assisting the Crusaders in their ope- 
rations, by means of the transports, provisions, and warlike stores 
with which they furnished them, continued to secure for them- 
selves important privileges and establishments in the seaports 
of the Levant, and other ports in the Greek empire. Th«ir 
example excited the industry of several maritime towns in 
France, and taught them the advantage of applying their atten- 
tion to Eastern commerce. In the North, the cities of Ham- 
burgh and Lubec, formed, about the year 1241, as is generally 
supposed, their first commercial association, which afterwards 
became so formidable under the name of the Hanseatic Leagtce.'^ 
The staple articles of these latter cities, consisted in marine 
stores, and other producti ons of the North, which they exchanged 
for the spiceries of the East, and the manufactures of Italy and 
the Low Countries. 



PERIOD IV. A. D. 1074—1300. 125 






I 



The progress of industry, the protection which sovereigns 
extended to it, and the pains they took to check the disorders of 
feudalism, contributed to the prosperity of towns, by daily aug- 
menting their population and their wealth. This produced, 
about the times we are speaking of, an advantageous change in 
the civil and social condition of the people. Throughout the 
principal states of Europe, cities began, after the twelfth centu- 
ry, to erect themselves into political bodies, and to form, by de- 
grees, a third order, distinct from that of the clergy and nobility. 
Before this period, the inhabitants of towns enjoyed neither civil 
nor political liberty. Their condition was very little better than 
that of the peasantry, who were all serfs, attached to the soil. 
The rights of citizenship, and the privileges derived from it, 
were reserved for the clergy and the noblesse. The Counts, ot 
governors of cities, by rendering their power hereditary, had 
appropriated to themselves the rights that were originally at- 
tached to their functions. They used them in the most arbi- 
trary way, and loaded the inhabitants with every kind of oppres- 
sion that avarice or caprice could suggest. 

At length, the cities which were either the most oppressed, 
or the most powerful, rose in rebellion against this intolerable 
yoke. The inhabitants formed themselves into confederations, 
to which they gave the name of Coi7imunes or Free Corpora' 
tions. Either of their own accord, or by charters, obtained very 
often on burdensome terms, they procured for themselves a free 
government, which, by relieving them from servitude, and all 
impositions and arbitrary exactions, secured them personal liberty 
and the possession of their effects, under the protection of their 
own magistrates, and the institution of a militia, or city guard. 
This revolution, one of the most important in Europe, first took 
place in Italy, where it was occasioned by the frequent inter- 
regnums that occurred in Germany, as well as by the distur- 
bances that rose between the Empire and the priesthood, in the 
eleventh century. The anathemas thundered against Henry 
IV., by absolving the subjects from the obedience they owed 
their sovereign, served as a pretext to the cities of Italy for 
shaking off the authority of the Imperial viceroys, or bailiffs, 
who had become tyrants instead of rulers, and for establishing 
free and republican governments. In this, they were encoura- 
ged and supported by the protection of the Roman pontiffs, 
whose sole aim and policy was the abasement of the Imperial i 
authority. 

Before this period, several maritime cities of Italy, such as 
Naples, Amalfi, Venice, Pisa, and Genoa, emboldened by the 
advantages of their situation, by the increase of their populatior 



126 



CHAPTER V. 



and tfteir commerce, had already emancipated themselves from 
the Imperial yoke, and erected themselves into republics. Their 
example was followed by the cities of Lombardy and the Vene- 
tian territory, especially Milan, Pavia, Asti, Cremona, Lodi, 
Como, Parma, Placentia, Verona, Padua, &c. All these cities, 
animated with the enthusiasm of liberty, adopted, about the be- 
ginning of the twelfth century, consuls and popular forms of 
government. They formed a kind of military force, or city 
guard, and vested in themselves the rights of royalty, and the 
power of making, in their own name and authority, alliances, 
wars, and treaties of peace. From Italy, this revolution ex- 
tended to France and Germany, the Low Countries, and Eng- 
land. In all these different states, the use of Communes, or 
boroughs, was established, and protected by the sovereigns, who 
employed these new institutions as a powerful check against 
the encroachments and tyranny of the feudal lords. 

In France, Louis the Fat, who began his reign in 1108, was 
ihe first king that granted rights, or constitutional charters, to 
certain cities within his domain, either from political motives, 
or the allurement of money. The nobility, after his example, 
eagerly sold liberty to their subjects. The revolution became 
general; the cry for liberty was raised every where, and inte- 
rested every mind. Throughout all the provinces, the inhabi- 
bants of cities solicited charters, and sometimes without waiting 
for them, they formed themselves voluntarily into communities, 
electing magistrates of their own choice, establishing companies 
of militia, and taking charge themselves of the fortifications and 
wardenship of their cities. The magistrates of free cities in 
northern France, were usually called mayors, sheriffs, and liv- 
erymen ; while, in the south of France, they were called syndics 
and consuls. It soon became an established principle, that kings 
alone had the power to authorize the erection of corporate towns. 
Louis VIII. declared that he regarded all cities in which these 
corporations were established, as belonging to his domain. They 
owed military service directly and personally to the king ; while 
such cities as had not these rights or charters, were obliged to 
follow their chiefs to the war. 

In Germany, we find the emperors adopting the same policy 
as the kings of France. The resources which the progress of 
commerce and manufactures opened to the industry of the in- 
habitants of cities, and the important succours which the empe- 
rors, Henry IV. and V., had received from them in their quar- 
rels with the Pope and the princes of the Empire, induced them 
to take these cities under their protection, to augment their num- 
ber, and multiply their privileges. Henry V. was the first em- 



I i 



I 
PERIOD IV. A. D. 1074—1300. 127 j 

peror that adopted this line of policy. He granted freedom to j 
the inhabitants of several cities, even to artisans and tradesmen ; j j 
whose condition, at that time, was as degraded and debased as j j 
that of serfs. He extended to them the rank and privileges of j j 
citizens, and thub gave rise to the division of cities into classes } \ 
and corporations of trades. This same prince set about repair- j 
ing the fault which the emperors of the house of Saxony had I 
committed, of giving up to the bishops the temporal jurisdiction [ 
in all the cities wherein they resided. He gradually superse- 1 1 
ded theee rights, by the new privileges which he granted to the j j 
inhabitants of cities. The emperors, his successors, followed j 
his example ; in a little time, several of these cities threw ofl j j 
the yoke of their bishops, while others extricated themselves j | 
from the jurisdiction of their superiors, or provosts, whether 
imperial or feudal, and adopted, in imitation of the cities in Italy 
and France, magistrates of their own choosing, a republican 
form of government, and a municipal polity. 

This liberty in cities, gave new vigour to industry, multiplied 
the sources of labour, and created means of opulence and power, 
till then unknown in Europe. The population of these cities 
increased with their wealth. Communities rose into political 
consequence ; and we find them successively admitted to the 
diets avid national assemblies, in all the principal states of Eu- 
rope. England set an example of this ; and though English 
authors are not agreed as to the precise time when the Commons 
of that kingdom were called into Parliament, it is at least cer- 
tain that their first admission belongs to the reign of Henry III. 
(about 1265 or 1266,) and that the formal division of the Par- 
liament into two houses, is as late as the reign of Edward III.^'' 
France followed the example of England ; the convocation of 
the states, by Philip the Fair (1303,) on the subject of his dis- 
putes with Pope Boniface VIII., is considered as the first assem- 
bly of the States-general, composed of the three orders of the 
kingdom. As to Germany, the first diet in which the cities of 
the Empire appeared in the form of a third order, was that of 
Spire (1309,) convoked by the Emperor Henry VII., of the 
house of Luxembourg. Afterwards, we find these cities exer- 
cisinffa decisive or deliberative voice at the diet of Frankfort 
(1344,) under Louis the Bavarian. 

In all these states, we find the sovereigns protecting more es- 
pecially those free cities which aided them in checking the de- 
vastations, and putting a stop to the fury of private or intestine 
wars. The most powerful of the feudal chiefs, finding every 
where cities in a capacity to defend themselves, became less en- 
terprising in their ambition ; and even the nobles of inferior 



1 1 



I 
I! 



t 



12S 



CHAPTER V. 



i I 



rank learned to respect the po'ver of these communities. The 
royal authority was thereby strengthened ; and the cities, nalu- 
raliy inclining to the sovereigns that protected them, served as 
a counterpoise in the general assemblies, to the power of the 
clergy and the noblesse, and were the means of obtaining those 
subsidiary supplies necessary for the exigencies of the state. 

The liberty which the inhabitants of cities had thus procured 
by the establishment of these communities, or corporate bodies, 
extended itself to the inhabitants of the country, by way of en- 
franchisemenis. Various circumstances concurred to render 
the use of these more frequent, after the twelfth century. The 
^sovereigns, guided by the maxims of sound policy, set the first 
example of this within their own demesnes ; and they were 
speedily imitated by the feudal lords and nobles, who, either out 
of courtesy to their sovereigns, or to prevent the desertion of 
their vassals, or acquire new dependents, were compelled to 
grant liberty to the one, and mitigate the servitude of the other. 
The communities, or chartered cities, likewise seconded and 
promoted these enfranchisements, by the protection which they 
granted to the serfs against their feudal superiors. 

In Italy, we perceive these enfranchisements following as 
an immediate consequence of the institution of communities. 
The continual feuds that arose among the numerous republics 
which had lately thrown off the yoke of authority, made the 
liberty of the serfs a measure absolutely necessary, in order to 
augment the numberofcitizensqualified to bear arms, and hold 
places of trust. Bonacurso, Captain of Bologna (1256,) pro- 
posed to his fellow-citizens, and carried the law of enfranchise- 
ment. All those who had serfs were obliged to present them 
before the Podesta, or Captain of the people, who affranchised 
them for a certain sum or tax, which the republic paid to the 
owner. The feudal superiors, finding that these enfranchise- 
ments had a powerful support in the liberty of the free cities, 
were obliged either to meliorate the condition of their serfs, or 
grant them liberty. 

In France, after the twelfth century, and the reign of Louis 
the Fat, these enfranchisements began to be frequent. The son 
and successor of that prince, Louis VII., by royal letter (1180,) 
affranchised all the serfs which the croAvn possessed at Orleans, 
and within five leagues of iu Louis X. passed a general law 
(1315,) for the enfranchisement of all serfs belonging to the 
crown. He there made a positive declaration, that slavery was 
contrary to nature, lohich intended that all men by birth should 
be free and equal ; that, since his kingdom was denamiiiated 
the kingdom of the Franks, or Freemen, it appeared jicst and 



PERIOD IV. A. D. 1074 — 1300. 129 

right that the fact should correspond with the name. He invited, 
at the same time, all the nobility to imitate his example, by 
granting liberty to their serfs. That prince v/ould have en- 
nobled the homage he paid to nature, if the gift of liberty had 
been gratuitous on his part ; but he made it a mere object of 
finance, and to gratify those only who could afford to pay for it ; 
whence it happened, that enfranchisements advanced but very 
slowly ; and examples of it are to be found in history, so late as 
the reign of Francis I. 

In Germany, the number of serfs diminished in like manner, 
after the twelfth century. The crusades, and the destructive 
wars which the Dukes of Saxony and the Margraves of the 
North carried on with the Slavian tribes on the Elbe and the 
Baltic, having depopulated the northern and eastern parts of 
Germany, numerous colonies from Brabant, the Netherlands, 
Holland and Friesland, were introduced into these countries, 
where they formed themselves into establishments or associa- 
tions of free cultivators of the soil. From Lower Germany the 
custom of enfranchisements extended to the Upper provinces, 
and along the banks of the Rhine. This was encouraged by 
the free cities, which not only gave a welcome reception to the 
serfs who had fled to shelter themselves from oppression within 
their walls, but they even granted protection, and th^ wghts of 
citizenship, to those who had settled within the precincts or 
liberties of the town ;^^ or who continued, without changing 
their habitation, to reside on the lands of their feudal superiors. 
This spirited conduct of the free cities put the nobles of Ger- 
many to the necessity of aiding and abetting, by degrees, either 
the suppression or the mitigation of slavery. They reimbursed 
themselves for the loss of the fine or tax which they had been 
in the habit of levying, on the death of their serfs, by an aug- 
mentation of the quit-rent, or annual cess which they exacted 
from them on their being affranchised. 

In the Low Countries, Henry II., duke of Brabant (1218,) 
in his last will, granted liberty to all cultivators of the soil; — 
he affranchised them on the right of mortmain, and ordained, 
that, like the inhabitants of free cities, they should be judged by 
no other than their own magistrates. In this manner, liberty 
by degrees recovered its proper rights. It assisted in dispelling 
the clouds of ignorance and superstition, and spread a new 
lustre over Europe. One event which contributed essentially 
to give men more exact notions on government and jurispru- 
dence, was the revival of the Roman law, which happened 
about the time we now speak of. The German tribes that de- 
stroyed the Western Empire in the fifth century, would natu- 



]30 



CHAPTER V. 



rally despise a system of legislation, such as that of the Romans, 
which neither accorded with the ferocity of their manners, nor 
the rudeness of their ideas. In consequence, the revolution 
which occasioned the downfall of that empire, brought at the 
same time the Roman jurisprudence into desuetude over all 
the Western world. ^^ 

A lapse of several centuries, however, was requ'jed, to rec- 
tify men's ideas on the nature of society, and to prepare them 
for receiving the laws and institutions of a civilized and re- 
fined government. Such was the general state and condition 
of political knowledge, when the fame of a celebrated civilian, 
called Irnerius, who taught the law of Justinian publicly at 
Bologna, about the commencement of the twelfth century, at- 
tracted to that academy the youth of the greater part of Europe. 
There they devoted themselves with ardour to the study of this 
new science. The pupils, instructed by Irnerius and his suc- 
cessors, on returning home, and being employed in the tribunals 
and public offices of their native country, gradually carried into 
practice the principles which they had imbibed in the school ot 
Bologna. Hence, in a short time, and without the direct inter- 
ference of the legislative authority, the law of Justinian was 
adopted by degrees, as a subsidiary law in all the principal 
states of Europe. Various circumstances contributed to acce- 
lerate the progress of this revolution. People had felt for a 
long time the necessity of a new legislature, and the insuffi- 
ciency of their national laws. The novelty of the Roman 
laws, as well as their equity and precision, arrested the atten- 
tion of all Europe ; and sovereigns found it their interest to 
protect a jurisprudence, whose maxims were so favourable to 
royalty and monarchical power, and which served at once to 
strengthen and extend their authority. 

The introduction of the Roman jurisprudence was soon fol- 
lowed by that of the Canon law. The Popes, perceiving the 
'rapid propagation of this new science, and eager to arrest its 
progress, immediately set themselves to the work of raising that 
vast and astonishing edifice the Canon law, as an engine to pro- 
mote the accomplishment of their own greatness. Gralian, a 
monk of Bologna, encouraged by Pope Eugenius III., compiled 
a collection of Canons, under the title of the Decret, which he 
arranged in systematic order, to serve as an introduction to the 
study of that law. This compilation, extracted from difl^erent 
authors who had preceded him, recommended itself to the world 
by its popular method, which was adapted to the genius of the 
times. Pope Eugenius III. gave it his approval in 1152, 
and ordained that it should be read and explained in the schools- 



PERIOD IV. A. D 1074— 1300. 131 

This collection of Gratian soon obtained a wide and most suc- 
cessful reception ; from the schools it passed to the public tri- 
bunals, both civil and ecclesiastical. A t length, Pope Gregory 
IX., in imitation of the Emperor Justinian, who had caused a 
collection of his own statutes, and those of his predecessors, to 
be made by Tribonian, ordered his chaplain Raymond de Pen- 
nafort to compile and digest, in their proper order, all the deci- 
sions of his predecessors, as well as his own ; thus extending to 
common practice, what had been originally established but for 
one place, and for particular cases. He published his collection 
(1235) under the name of Decretals, with an injunction, that it 
should be employed both in the tribunals and in the schools. 

If this new system of jurisprudence served to extend the juris- 
diction, and strengthen the temporal power of the Popes, it did 
not fail at the same time to produce salutary effects on the 
governments and manners of Europe. The peace, or truce of 
God, which some bishops of France, in the eleventh century, 
had instituted as a check on the unbridled fury of private quar- 
rels and civil discord, was established, by the Decretals, into a 
general law of the church.-" The judgvients of God, till then 
used in the tribunals of justice, trial by single combat, by hot 
iron, hot and cold water, the cross, &c. were gradually abolished. 
The restraints of the Canon law, added to the new information 
which had diffused its light over the human mind, were instru- 
mental in rooting out practices which served only to cherish 
and protract the ancient ferocity of manners. The spirit of 
order and method which prevailed in the new jurisprudence, 
soon communicated itself to every branch of legislation among 
the nations of Europe. The feudal law was reduced to syste- 
matic order; and the usages and customs of the provinces, till 
then local and uncertain, were collected and organized into a 
regular form.^^ 

Jurisprudence, having now become a complicated science, 
demanded a long and laborious course of study, which could no 
longer be associated with the profession of arms. The sword 
was then obliged by degrees to abandon the courts of justice, 
and give place to the gown. A new class of men thus arose, 
that of the law, who contributed by their influence to repress 
the overgrown power of the nobility. 

The rapid progress which the new jurisprudence made, must 
be ascribed to the recent foundation of universities, and the en 
couragements which sovereigns granted these literary corpora- 
tions. Before their establishment, the principal public schools 
were those which were attached either to monasteries, or cathe- 
dral and collegiate churches. There were, however, only a few 



!l 

ji 

i I 
1 1 
1 1 



J32 



CHAPTER V. 



colleo-es instituted ; and these in large cities, such as Rome, 
Paris, Angers, Oxford, Salamanca, &c. The sciences there 
taught were comprised under the seven liberal arts, viz. Gram- 
mar, Rhetoric, Dialectics or Logic, Arithmetic, Geometry, Music, 
and Astronomy. The first three were known by the name of 
Trivium ; and the other four, which make part of mathematics, 
by that of Quadrivium. As for Theology and Jurisprudence, 
they did not as yet figure among the academic sciences ; and 
there was no school of medicine prior to that of Salerno — the 
only one of which any traces are discovered, towards the end of 
the eleventh century. 

These schools and academies cannot, by any means, be put 
in comparison with modern universities ; which differ from them 
essentially, both as to the variety of sciences which are pro- 
fessed, and by their institutions as privileged bodies, enjoying a 
system of government and jurisdiction peculiarly their own. 
The origin of these Universities is coeval with the revival of 
the Roman law in Italy, and the invention of academic degrees. 
The same Irnerius who is generally acknowledged as the re- 
storer of the Roman law at Bologna, was also the first that 
conceived the idea of conferring, with certain solemnities, doc- 
torial degrees ; and granting license or diplomas to those who 
excelled in the study of jurisprudence. Pope Eugenius III. 
(1153,) when he introduced the code of Gratian into t^ie aca- 
demy of Bologna, gave permission to confer the same degrees 
in the Canon law, as had been customary in the Civil law. 
These degrees were much coveted and esteemed on account of 
the honours, immunities, and prerogatives which the sovereign 
had attached to them. Nothing however contributed more to 
bring universities into favour, than the privileges and immuni- 
ties which the Emperor Frederic Barbarossa conferred on them 
(1158,) by his Authentic, (or rescript, called Habita.) The ex- 
ample of this prince was speedily followed by the other so- 
vereigns of Europe. 

The teaching of jurisprudence passed from the school of 
Bologna to the different academies of Europe. Theology also 
was soon admitted, as wrell as medicine; and these completed 
the four faculties, as they were called, of which the univer- 
sities were composed. That of Paris was the first which com- 
bined all the faculties. It was completed under the reign of 
Philip Augustus, from whom it obtained its earliest charter, 
about the year 1200. Except itself there are only the univer- 
sities of Bologna, Padua, Naples, Toulouse, Salamanca, Coimbra, 

Cambridge, and Oxford, that date their origin in the thirteenth 
century.22 



PERIOD IV. A. D. 1074—1300. 183 

The downfall of the Imperial authority, and of the house of 
Hohenslaufen, and the new power usurped by the princes and 
States of the Empire, occasioned a long series of troubles in 
Germany, and that frightful state of anarchy, known by the 
name of the Grand Interregnum. Strength then triumphed 
over law and right; the government was altered from its basis; 
and no other means were found to remedy this want of public 
security, than by forming alliancies and confederations, such as 
that of the Rhine,^-* and the Hanseatic League, which began 
to appear about this time (1253.) The election of the Empe- 
rors, in which all the princes and states of the empire had for- 
merly concurred, became then the privilege solely of the great 
officers of the crown, who, towards the middle of the thirteenth 
century, claimed for themselves exclusively the right of elect- 
ing, and the title of Electors.^^ The princes and states of the 
Empire, anxious to confirm their growing power, sought to pro- 
mote only the feeblest emperors, who were incapable of sup- 
porting the rights and prerogatives of the crown. The electors, 
in particular, had no other object in view, than to derive a lucra- 
tive traffic from elections ; bargaining every time with the can- 
didates for large sums, and obtaining grants or mortgages of 
such portions of the Imperial demesnes as suited their con- 
venience. One only of these weak emperors, Kodolph, Count 
of Hapsburg in Switzerland, (1273) disappointed the expecta- 
tions of his electors. He repressed by force of arms, the dis- 
orders of anarchy, restored the laws and tribunals to their 
pristine vigour, and reconquered several of the Imperial domains 
from the usurpers v/ho had seized them. 

In consequence of the revolutions which we have now detailed, 
we find very important and memorable changes accomplished in 
the different provinces of the Empire. The princes and States 
of the Germanic body, regarding as their own patrimony the 
provinces and fiefs with which they were invested, thought 
themselves further authorized to portion them out among their 
sons. The usage of these partitions became general after the 
thirteenth century ; and this wrought the downfall of some of 
the most powerful families, and tended to multiply almost to 
infinity the dutchies, principalities, and earldoms of the Empire. 
The Emperoi^s, far from condemning this practice, which by no 
means accorded with the maxims of the feudal law, on the con- 
trary gave it their countenance, as appearing to them a proper 
instrument for humbling the power of the grandees, and acqui- 
ring for themselves a preponderating authority in the Empire. 

The ancient dutchies of Bavaria and Saxony experienced a 
new revolution on the fall of the powerful house of the 



134 



CHAPTER V 



!i 



Guelphs, which was deprived of both these dutchies by the sen- 
tence of proscription which the Emperor Frederic I, pronounced 
against Henry the Lion (1180,) Duke of Bavaria and Saxony. 
The first of these dutchies, which had formerly been dismembered 
from the Margravate of Austria by Frederic I. (1156,) and 
erected into a dutchy and fief holding immediately of the Em- 
pire, was exposed to new partitions at the time of which we 
now speak. The bishoprics of Bavaria, Stiria, Carinthia, Car- 
niola, and the Tyrol, broke their alliance with Bavaria; and the 
city of Ratisbonne, which had been the residence of the ancient 
dukes, was declared immediate, or holding of the crown. It 
was when contracted within these new limits that Bavaria was 
conferred, by Frederic I. (1180,) on Otho, Count of Wittelsbach, 
a scion of the original house of Bavaria. This house afterwards 
acquired by marriage (1215) the Palatinate of the Rhine. It 
was subsequently divided into various branches, of which the 
two principal were the Palatine and the Bavarian. 

As to the dutchy of Saxony, which embraced, under the 
Guelphs, the greater part of Lower Germany, it completely 
changed its circumstances on the decline of that house. Ber- 
nard of Aschersleben, younger son of Albert named the Bear, 
first Margrave of Brandenburg, a descendant of the Ascanian 
line, had been invested in the dutchy of Saxony by Frederic I. 
(1180,) but was found much too feeble to support the high rank 
to which he had been elevated. In consequence, the title, or 
qualification to the dutchy of Saxony and the Electorate, was 
restricted, under the successors and descendants of that prince, 
to an inconsiderable district, situated on both sides of the Elbe ; 
called since the Electoral Circle, of which Wittenberg was the 
capital. The princes of Pomerania and Mecklenburg, the Counts 
of Holstein and Westphalia, and the city of Lubeck, took advan- 
tage of this circumstance to revoU from the authority of the Duke 
of Saxony, and render themselves immediate. A part of West- 
phalia was erected into a distinct dutchy, in favour of the Arch- 
bishop of Cologne who had seconded the Emperor in his schemes 
of vengeance against the Guelphic princes. This latter house, 
whoso vast possessions had extended from the Adriatic Sea to the 
Baltic and the Northern Ocean, retained nothing more of its 
ancient splendour than the free lands which it possessed in Lower 
Saxony, and which the emperor Frederic II. (1235) converted 
into a dutchy, and immediate fief of the empire, in favour of 
Otho the Infant, grandson of Henry the Lion, and the new 
founder of the House of Brunswick. 

The extinction of the House of Hohenstaufen having occa- 
sioned a vacancy in the dutchies of Suabia and Franconia, the 



PERIOD IV. A. D. 1074—1300. 135 

different states of these provinces, both secular and ecclesiasti- 
cal, found means to render themselves also immediate, (1268.) 
A number of cities which had belonged to the domains of the 
ancient dukes, were raised to the rank of free and imperial 
cities; and the Houses of Baden, Wurteraberg, Hohen-Zoilern, 
and Furstenberg, date their celebrity from this period. The 
death of the anti-emperor, Henry le Raspon (1247,) last land- 
grave of Thuringia, gave rise to a long war between the Mar- 
graves of Misnia and the Dukes of Brabant, who mutually 
contested that succession. The former advanced an Expecta- 
tive, or deed of Reversion of the Emperor Frederic II., as well 
as the claims of Jutta, sister of the last landgrave ; and the others 
maintained those of Sophia, daughter of the langrave Louis, 
elder brother and predecessor of Henry le Raspon. At length, 
by a partition which took place (1264,) Thuringia, properly so 
called, was made over to the house of Misnia ; and Henry of 
Brabant, surnamed the Infant, son of Henry II. Duke of Bra- 
bant, and Sophia of Thuringia, was secured in the possession of 
Hesse, and became the founder of a new dynasty of landgraves — 
those of the House of Hesse. 

The ancient dukes of Austria, of the House of Bamberg, hav- 
ing become extinct v/ith Frederic the Valiant (1246,) the suc- 
cession of that dutchy was keenly contested between the niece 
and the sisters of the last duke; who, though females, could lay 
claim to it, in virtue of the privilege granted by the emperor 
Frederic Barbarossa. Ottocar II., son of Wenceslaus, king of 
Bohemia, took advantage of these troubles in Austria, to possess 
himself of that province (1251.) He obtained the investiture of 
it (1262) from Richard, son of John king of England, who had 
purchased the title of Emperor at a vast expense ; but Rodolph 
of Hapsbourg, treating him as a usurper, made war upon him, 
defeated and slew him in a battle which was fought (1278) at 
Marchfeld, in the neighbourhood of Vienna. The dutchies of 
Austria, Stiria, Carinthia, and Carniola, being then detached 
from the kingdom of Bohemia, were declared vacant, and de- 
volved to the Empire. The investiture of these the Emperor 
conferred (1282) on Albert and Rodolph, his own sons. Al- 
bert, the eldest of these princes, who was afterwards Emperor, 
became the founder of the Hapsbourg dynasty of Austria. 

In Italy, a great number of republics arose about the end of 
the eleventh, or beginning of the twelfth century. These re- 
publics, though they had cast off the Imperial authority, and 
cla-med to themselves the rights of sovereignty, protested, never- 
theless, their fealty to the Emperor, vi^hom they agreed to recog- 
nise as their supreme head. The Emperors, Henry V., Lo- 



136 



CHAPTER V. 



thaire the Saxon, and Conrad III., saw themselves compelled to 
tolerate an usurpation which they were too feeble to repress. 
But Frederic Barbarossa being determined to restore the royalty 
of Italy to its ancient splendour, led a powerful army into that 
kingdom (1158;) and in a diet which he assembled on the plains 
of Ronc&glia, in the territory of Placentia, he caused a strict in- 
vestigation to be made by the lawyers of Bologna, into the rights 
on which he founded his pretensions to the title of King of Italy. 
The opposition which the execution of the decrees of that diet 
met with on the part of the Milanese, induced the Emperor to 
undertake the siege of their city. He made himself master of it 
in 1162, razed it to the foundation, and dispersed the inhabitants. 

This chastisement of the Milanese astonished the Italians, 
but without abating their courage. They afterwards took ad- 
vantage of the reverses of the Emperor, and the schism which 
had arisen in the Romish Church, to form a league with the 
principal cities of Lombardy (1167,) into which they drew the 
King of the Two Sicilies, as well as Pope Alexander III., whom 
the Emperor treated as a schismatic. The city of Milan vv'as 
rebuilt in consequence of this league ; as also that of Alexan- 
dria, called della Paglia. The war was long protracted ; but 
the Emperor being abandoned by Henry the Lion, Duke of Ba- 
varia and Saxony, the most powerful of his vassals, received a 
defeat at Lignano, which obliged him to make an accommoda- 
tion with Pope Alexander III., and to sign, at Venice, a treaty 
of six years with the confederate cities (1177.) This treaty was 
afterwards converted, at Constance, into a definitive peace 
(1183;) by virtue of which, the cities of Italy were guaranteed 
in the forms of government they had adopted, as well as in the 
exercise of the regalian rights which they had acquired, whether 
by usage or prescription. The Emperor reserved for himself 
the investiture of the consuls, the oath of allegiance, which was 
to be renewed every ten years, and all appeals, in civil cases, 
where the sum exceeded the value of twenty-five imperial livres, 
(about 1500 francs.) 

The Emperor Frederic II., grandson of Frederic I., and heir, 
in right of his mother, to the kingdom of the Two Sicilies, made 
new efforts to restore the prerogatives of the Empire in Italy. 
But the cities of Lombardy renewed their league, into which 
they drew Pope Gregory IX. (1226,) whose dignity and power 
would be endangered if the Emperor, being possessor of the 
Two Sicilies, should succeed in conquering the cities of Lom- 
bardy. The war which ensued (1236,) was long and bloody. 
The Popes Gregory IX. and Innocent IV., went so far as to 
preach up a crusade against the Emperor, as if he had been an 



PERIOD IV, A. D. 1074—1300. 137 

infidel ; while that unfortunate prince, after the most courageous 
and indefatigable efforts, had the mortification to see his troops 
once more discomfited by the forces of the League. 

The cities of Italy were no sooner delivered from the terror 
of the Emperors, than they let loose their fury against each 
other; impelled by the rage of conquest, and torn by the inter- 
nal factions of the Guelphs and the Ghibellines, as well as by 
the contests which had arisen between the noblesse and the free 
cities. The partisans of the nobles in these cities, were strength- 
ened by the very measures which had been taken to humble 
them. The chartered towns by destroying that multitude of 
seignories, earldoms, and marquisates witn which Lombardy 
swarmed before the twelfth century, and by incorporating them 
with their own territories, obliged the deserted nobles and gran- 
dees to seek an establishment within their walls. These latter, 
finding their partisans united and powerful, soon attempted to 
seize the government; and hence arose an interminable source 
of civil discord, which ended with the loss of liberty in the greater 
part of these communities. 

To arrest these evils, and put a check to the ambition of the 
powerful citizens, they adopted the plan of intrusting the gov- 
ernment to a single magistrate, to be called the Podesta, who 
should be chosen in the neighbouring cities. This scheme was 
but a palliative rather than a remedy ; and in order to guarantee 
themselves from the oppression of the nobles, the corporations 
of several cities gradually adopted the plan of conferring a sort 
of dictatorship on one of the powerful citizens, or on some prince 
or nobleman, even though he were a stranger, under the title of 
Captain ; hoping, in this way, to succeed in re-establishing 
peace and order. These chiefs or captains contrived, in process 
of time, to render absolute and perpetual, an authority which at 
first was temporary, and only granted on certain conditions. 
Hence the origin of several new independent sovereignties which 
were formed in Italy during the course of the fourteenth century, 

Venice and Genoa at that time eclipsed all the republics of 
Italy, by the flourishing state of their navigation and commerce. 
The origin of the former of these cities is generally dated as far 
back as the invasion of the Huns under Attila (452.) The cru- 
elty of these barbarians having spread terror and flight over the 
whole country, many of the inhabitants of ancient Venetia, took 
refuge in the isles and lagoons on the borders of the Adriatic 
Gulf; and there laid the foundation of the city of Venice, which, 
Vi^hether we regard the singularity of its construction, or the 
splendour to which it rose, deserves to be numbered among the 
wonders of the world. At first its government was popular, and 



138 CHAPTER V. 

administered by a bench of tribunes whose power was annual. 
The divisions which arose among these yearly administrators, 
occasioned the election of a chief (697,) who took the title of 
Duke or Dog-e. This dignity was for life, and depended on the 
suffrages of the community ; but he exercised nevertheless the 
rights of sovereignty, and it was not till after a long course oi 
time that his authority was gradually abridged ; and the govern- 
ment, which had been monarchical, became again democratical. 

Venice, which from its birth was a commercial city, enjoyed 
in the middle ages nearly the same renown which Tyre had 
among the trading cities of antiquity. The commencement of 
its grandeur may be dated from the end of the tenth century, 
and under the magistracy of the Doge Peter Urseolo II., whom 
the Venetians regard as the true founder of their state (992.) 
From the Greek emperors he obtained for them an entire liberty 
and immunity of commerce, in all the ports of that empire ; and 
he procured them at the same time several very important ad- 
vantages, by the treaties which he concluded with the emperor 
Otho III. and with the Caliphs of Egypt. The vast increase of 
their commerce, inspired these republicans with a desire to ex- 
tend the contracted bounds of their territory. One of their first 
conquests was the maritime cities of Istria, as well as those of 
Dalmatia ; both of which occurred under the magistracy of Peter 
Urseolo II., and in the year 997. They were obliged to make 
a surrender of the cities of Dalmatia, by the emperors of the 
East, who regarded these cities as dependencies of their empire ; 
while the kings of Croatia and Dalmatia also laid claim to them. 
Croatia having passed into the hands of the Kings of Hungary, 
about the end of the eleventh century, these same cities became 
a perpetual source of troubles and wars between the Kings oi 
Hungary and the Republic of Venice y and it was not till the 
fifteenth century that the Republic found means to confirm its 
authority in Dalmatia. 

The Venetians having become parties in the famous League 
of Lombardy, in the eleventh century, contributed by their ef- 
forts, to render abortive the vast projects of the Emperor Frede- 
ric I. Pope Alexander III., as a testimony of his gratitude, 
granted them the sovereignty of the Hadriatic (1177,)25 and this 
circumstance gave rise to the singular ceremony of annually 
marrying this sea to the Doge of Venice. The aggrandizement 
of this republic was greatly accelerated by the crusades, espe- 
cially the fourth (1204,) which was followed by the dismem- 
berment of the Greek empire. The Venetians, who had joined 
this crusade, obtained for their portion several cities and ports 
in Dalmatia, Albania, Greece and the Morea ; as also the Islands 



PERIOD IV. A. D. 1074—1300. 139 

of Corfu, Cephalonia, and Candia or Crete. At length, towards 
the end of the thirteenth century, this republic assumed the pe- 
culiar form of government which it retained tilj the day of its 
destruction. In the earlier ages its constitution was democratic, 
and the power of the Doge limited by a grand council, which 
was chosen annually from among the different classes of the 
citizens, by electors named by the people. As these forms gave 
occasion to troubles and intestine commotions, the Doge Pietro 
Gradenigo, to remove all cause of discontent in future, passed 
a law (1298,) which abrogated the custom of annual elections, 
and fixed irrevocably in their office all those who then sat in 
the grand council, and this to descend to their posterity foi 
ever. The hereditary aristocracy thus introduced at Venice, 
did not fail to excite the discontent of those whose families this 
new law had excluded from the government ; and it was this 
which afterwards occasioned various insurrections, of which 
that of Tiepolo (1310) is the most remarkable. The partisans 
of the ancient government, and those of the new, attempted to 
decide the matter by a battle in the city of Venice. Tiepolo 
and his party were defeated, and Querini, one of the chiefs, 
•■vas killed in the action. A commission of ten members was 
nominated to inform against the accomplices of this secret con- 
spiracy. This commission, which was meant to be but tem- 
porary, was afterwards declared perpetual ; and, under the 
name of the Council of Ten, became one of the most formida- 
ble supports of the aristocracy. 

The city of Genoa, like that of Venice, owed her prosperity 
to the progress of her commerce, which she extended to the 
Levant, Constantinople, Syria, and Egypt. Governed at first 
by Consuls, like the rest of the Italian states, she afterwards 
1190) chose a foreign Podesta or governor, to repress the vio- 
lence of faction, and put a check on the ambition of the nobles. 
This governor was afterwards made subordinate to a Captain of 
the people, whom the Genoese chose for the first time in 1257, 
without being able yet to fix their government, which ex- 
perienced frequent variations before assuming a settled and 
permanent form. These internal divisions of the Genoese did 
not impede the progress of their commerce and their marine. 
The crusades of the 12th and 13th centuries, the powerful suc- 
cours which these republicans gave to the crusaders, and to the 
Greeks, as well as the treaties which they concluded Avith the 
Moorish and African princes, procured them considerable esta- 
blishments in the Levant, and also in Asia and Africa. Caffa, 
a famous seaport on the Black Sea, and the port of Azoph, the 
ancient Tanais, at the mouth of the Don, belonged to them ; 



140 



CHAPTER V. 



and served as entrepots for their commerce with China and the 
Indies. Smyrna in Asia Minor, as also the suburbs of Pera 
and Galata at Constantinople, and the isles of Scio, Metelin 
and Tenedos, in the Archipelago, were ceded to them by the 
Greek emperors. The kings of Cyprus were their tributaries. 
The Greek and German emperors, the kings of Sicily, Cas- 
tille and Arragon, and the Sultans of Egypt, jealously sought 
their alliance, and the protection of their marine. Encouraged 
by these successes, they formed a considerable territory on the 
continent of Italy, after the 12th century, of which nothing but 
a fragment now remains to them. 

Genoa had at that time, in its immediate neighbourhood, a 
dangerous rival of its power and greatness. This rival was 
Pisa, a flourishing republic on the coast of Tuscany, which 
owed its prosperity entirely to the increase of its commerce and 
marine. The proximity of these two states- — the similarity of 
their views and their interests — the desire of conquest — and 
the command of the sea, which both of them desired, created a 
marked jealousy between them, and made them the natural and 
implacable enemies of each other. One of the principal sub- 
jects of dispute was the possession of Corsica and Sardinia,^^ 
which the two republics contested at the point of the sword, 
after having, by means of their combined force, expelled the 
Moors, toward the middle of the eleventh century. Pisa, ori- 
ginally superior to Genoa in maritime strength, disputed with 
her the empire of the Mediterranean, and haughtily forbade the 
Genoese to appear within those seas with their ships of war. 
This rivalry nourished the animosity of the two republics, and 
rendered it implacable. Hence a continual source of mutual 
hostilities, which were renewed incessantly for the space of 200 
years, and only terminated in 1290 ; when, by the conquest ol 
Elba, and the destruction of the ports of Pisa and Leghorn, 
the Genoese effected the ruin of the shipping and commerce of 
the Pisan republic. 

Lower Italy, possessed by the Norman princes, under the title 
of Dutchy and Comt^, became the seat of a new kingdom in the 
eleventh century — that of the two Sicilies. On the extinction 
of the Dukes of Apulia and Calabria, descendants of Robert 
Guiscard, Roger, son of Roger, Count of Sicily, and sovereign 
of that island, united the dominions of the two branches of the 
Norman dynasty (1127 ;) and being desirous of procuring for 
himself the royal dignity, he attached to his interest the Anti- 
pope Anacletus II., who invested him with royalty by a bull 
(1130,) in which, however, he took care to reserve the territorial 
right and an annual tribute to the Church of Rome. This 



PERIOD IV. A. D. 1074—1300. 141 

prince received the crown of Palermo trom the hands of a :ar- 
dinal, whom the pope had deputed for the express purpose. On 
the death of the Emperor Lothaire, he succeeded in dispossess- 
ing the Prince of Capua, and subduing the dutchy of Naples 
(1139;) thus completing the conquest of all that is now deno- 
minated the kingdom of Naples. William II., grandson of 
Roger, was the principal support of Pope Alexander III. ; and 
of the famous League of Lombardy formed against the Empe- 
ror Frederic Barbarossa. The male line of the Norman princes 
having become extinct in William II,, the kingdom of the Two 
Sicilies passed (11S9) *o the House of Hohenstaufen, by the 
marriage which the Ernperor Henry IV,, son of Frederic Bar- 
barossa, contracted with the Princess Constance, aunt and here- i 
trix of the last king, Henry maintained the rights of his wife 
against the usurper Tancred, and transmitted this kingdom to 
his son Frederic II,, who acquired by his marriage with Jolande, 
daughther of John de Brienne, titular King of Jerusalem, the 
titles and arms of this latter kingdom. The efforts which Fre 
deric made to annihilate the League of Lombardy, and confirm 
his own authority in Italy, drew down upon him the persecution 
of the court of Rome, who taking advantage of the minority of 
the young Conradin, grandson of Frederic II., wrested the 
crown of the two Sicilies from this rival house, which alone 
was able to check its ambitious projects. Mainfroi, natural son 
of Frederic II,, disgusted with playing the part of tutor to the 
young Conradin, in which capacity he at first acted, caused him- 
self to be proclaimed and crowned, at Palermo, King of the Two 
Sicilies, (1258.) The Popes Urban IV,, and Clement IV,, dread- 
ing the genius and talents of this prince, made an offer of that 
kingdom to Charles of Anjou, Count of Provence, and brother of 
St, Louis. Clement IV. granted the investiture of it (1265) to 
hirn and his descendants, male and female, on condition of his 
doing fealty and homage to the Holy See, and presenting him 
annually with a white riding horse, and a tribute of eight million 
ounces of gold. Charles, after being crowned at Rome, marched 
against Mainfroi, with an army chiefly composed of crusaders. 
He defeated that prince, who was slain at the battle of Bene- 
vento (1266,) which was soon after followed by the reduction of 
the two kingdoms. One rival to Charles still survived, the 
young Conradin, the lawful heir to the throne of his ancestors. 
Charles vanquished him also, two years afterwards, in the plains 
of Tagliacozzo ; and having made him prisoner, together with 
his young friend Frederic of Austria, he caused both of the«e 
princes to be beheaded at Naples (29th October 1268.) 

Charles did not long enjoy his new dignity. While he was 



142 CHAPTER V. 

preparing to undertake a crusade against Michael Paleologus, 
a schismatic prince who had expelled the Latins from Constan- 
tinople, he had the mortification to see himself dispossessed of 
Sicily, on the occasion of the famous Sicilian Vespers (1282.) 
This event, which is generally regarded as the result of a con- 
spiracy, planned with great address by a gentleman of Salerno, 
named John de Procida, appears to have been but the sudden 
effect of an insurrection, occasioned by the aversion of the Sici- 
lians to the French yoke. During the hour of vespers, on the 
second day of Easter (30th March,) when the inhabitants of 
Palermo were on their way to the Church of the Holy Ghost, 
situated at some distance from the town, it happened that a 
Frenchman, named Drouette, had offered a private insult to a 
Sicilian woman : hence a quarrel arose, which drew on a gene- 
ral insurrection at Palermo. All the French who were m the 
city or the neighbourhood were massacred, with the exception 
of one gentleman from Provence, called William Porcellet, who 
had conciliated all hearts by his virtues. This revolt gradually 
extended to the other Sicilian cities. Every where the French 
were put to death on the spot. Messina was the last that caught 
the infection ; but there the revolution did not take place till 
thirty days after the same event at Palermo, (29th April 1282.) 
it is therefore not true, that this massacre of the French hap- 
pened at the same hour, and at the sound of the vesper bells, 
over all parts of the island. Nor is it more probable, that the 
plot had been contrived by Peter III., King of Arragon ; since 
the Palermitans displayed at first the banner of the church, 
having resolved to surrender to the Pope ; but being driven from 
this resolution, and dreading the vengeance of Charles, they 
despatched deputies to the King of Arragon, who was then 
cruising with a fleet off the African coast, and made him an offei 
of their crown. This prince yielded to the invitation of the 
Palermitans ; he landed at Trapani, and thence passed to Pa- 
lermo, where he was crowned King of Sicily. The whole 
island submitted to him; and Charles of Anjou was obliged to 
raise the siege of Messina, which he had undertaken. Peter 
entered and took possession of the place, and from that time 
Sicily remained under the power of the Kings of Arragon ; it 
became the inheritance of a particular branch of the Arragonese 
princes ; and the House of Anjou were reduced to the single 
kingdom of Naples. 

_ Spain, which was divided into several sovereignties, both Chris- 
tian and Mahometan, presented a contmual spectacle of commo- 
tion and carnage. The Christian States of Castille and Arragon, 
were gradually increased by the conquests made over the Maho- 



PERIOD IV. A. D. 1074—1300. 143 

metans ; while the kingdom of Navarre, less exposed to con- 
quest by its local situation, remained nearly in its original stale 
of mediocrity. This latter Idngdom passed in succession to 
female heirs of different houses. Blanche of Navarre, daughter 
of Sancho VI., transferred it to the Counts of Champagne (1234.) 
On the extinction of the male line of that house, in Henry I. of 
Navarre (1274,) Joan I., his daughter and heiress, conveyed that 
kingdom, together with the Comtts of Champagne and Brie, 
to the crown of France. Philip the Fair, husband of that prin- 
cess, and his three sons, Louis le Hutin, Philip the Long, and 
Charles the Fair, were, at the same time, kings both of France 
and Navarre. Finally, it was Queen Joan II., daughter of 
Louis le Hutin, and heretrix of Navarre, who transferred that 
kingdom to the family of the Counts d'Evreux, and relinquished 
the Comtts of Champagne and Brie to Philip of Valois, suc- 
cessor of Charles the Fair to the throne of France (1336.) 

The family of the Counts of Barcelona ascended the throne 
of Arragon (1131,) by the marriage of Count Raymond-Beren- 
guier V. with Donna Petronilla, daughter and heiress of Ramira 
II., King of Arragon. Don Pedro II., grandson of Raymond- 
Berenguier, happening to be at Rome (1204,) was there crowned 
king of Arragon by Pope Innocent III. On this occasion he 
did homage for his kingdom to that pontiff, and engaged, for 
himself and successors, to pay an annual tribute to the Holy 
See. Don James I., surnamed the Conqueror, son of Don Pedro 
n., gained some important victories over the Mahometans, from 
whom he took the Balearic Isles (1230,) and the kingdom of 
Valentia,2^ (1238.) Don Pedro III. eldest son of Don James I., 
had dispossessed Charles I. of Anjou and Sicily, which drew 
down upon him a violent persecution on the part of Pope Martin 
IV^., who was on the eve of publishing a crusade against him, 
and assigning over his estates to Charles of Valois, a younger 
brother of Philip called the Hardy, king of France. Don James 
II., younger son of Don Pedro III., succeeded in making his 
peace with the Court of Rome, and even obtained from Pope 
Boniface VIII. (1297) the investiture of the Island of Sardinia, j 
on condition of acknowledging himself the vassal and tributary 
of the Holy See for that kingdom, which he afterwards obtained 
by conquest from the republic of Pisa. 

The principal victories of the Christians over the Mahome- 
tans in Spain, were reserved for the kings of Castille, whose 
history is extremely fertile in great events. Alphonso VI., 
whom some call Alphonso I., after having taken Madrid and 
Toledo (1085,) and subdued the whole kingdom of Toledo, was 
on the point of altogether expelling the Mahometans from Spain, 



j 



144 CHArTER V, 

when a revolution which happened in Africa augmented their 
forces by fresh numbers, and thus arrested the progress of the 
Castilian prince. 

The Zeirides, an Arab dynasty, descended from Zeiri, son of 
Mounad, reigned then over that part of Africa which compre- 
hends Africa properly so called (viz. Tripoli, Tunis, and Algiers,) 
and the Mogreb (comprehending Fez and Morocco,) which they 
had conquered from the Fatimite caliphs of Egypt. It hap- 
pened that a new apostle and conqueror, named Aboubeker, son 
of Omer, collected some tribes of Arabs in the vicinity of Sugul- 
messa, a city in the kingdom of Fez, and got himself proclaimed 
Commander of the Faithful. His adherents took the name of 
Morabelhin, a term which signifies zealously devoted to religion ; 
and whence the Spaniards have formed the names Almoravides 
and MarahoiUhs. Having mcule himself master of the city of 
Sugulmessa, this warlike Emir extended his conquests in the 
Mogreb, as well as in Africa Proper, whence he expelled the 
Zeirides. His successor, Yousufl', or Joseph, the son of Tas- 
chefin, completed the conquest of these countries ; and built the 
city of Morocco (1069,) which he made the capital of the Mogreb, 
and the seat of his new empire. This prince joined the Ma- 
hometans of Seville, to whose aid he marched with his victorious 
troops, defeated the king of Castille at the battle of Badajos 
(1090,) and subdued the principal Mahometan states of Spain, 
such as Grenada and Seville, &c. 

The empire of the Almoravides was subverted in the twelfth 
century by another Mahometan sect, called the Moahedins, oi 
Ab/iohades, a word signifying Unitarians. An upstart fanatic, 
named Abdalmoumen, was the founder of this sect. He was 
educated among the mountains of Sous, in Mauritania, and 
assumed the quality of Emir (1120,) and the surname of Mo- 
hadi, that is, the Chief — the leader and director of the faithful. 
Having subdued Morocco, Africa, and the whole of the Mogreb, 
he annihilated the dynasty of the Almoravides (1146,) and at 
the same time vanquished the Mahometan states in Spain. He 
took also (1160) from the Normans Tunis, Mohadie, and Tripoli, 
of which they had taken possession. One of his successors, 
named Naser-Mohammed, formed the project of re-conquering 
the whole continent of Spain. The immense preparations which 
he made for this purpose, alarmed Alphonso VIII., king of Cas- 
tille, who immediately formed an alliance with the kings of Ar- 
ragon and Navarre, and even engaged Pope Innocent III, to 
proclaim a crusade against the Mahometans. The armies of 
Europe and Africa met on the confines of Castile and Andalusia 
(1212;) and in the environs of the city Ubeda was foughi a 



^^ llllfll'l 1 




Henry IV., Emperor of Germany, submitting to Pope 
Gregory VH. P. lOS. 




Peter the Hermit preaching to the Crusaders. P. 116. 



PERIOD IV. A. D. 1074—1300. 146 

bloody battle, which so crippled the power of the Almohades, as 
to occasion in a short time the downfall and dismemberment of 
their empire.^ 

About this period (1269,) the Mahometans of Spain revolted 
afresh from Africa, and divided themselves into several petty 
states, of which the principal and the only one that existed for 
several centuries, was that of the descendants of Naser, Kings 
of Grenada. Ferdinand III., King of Castille and Leon, took 
advantage of this event to renew his conquests over the Ma- 
hometans. He took from them the kingdoms of Cordova, Mur- 
cia, and Seville (1236, et seq.,) and left them only the single 
kingdom of Grenada. 

These wars against the Mahometans were the occasion of 
several religious and military orders being founded in Spain. 
Of these, the most ancient was that founded and fixed at Alcan- 
tara (1156,) whence it took its name; having for its badge or 
decoration a green cross, in form of the lily, or Jleur-de-lis. The 
order of Calatrava was instituted in 1158; it was confirmed by 
Pope Alexander III. (1164,) and assumed as its distinctive mark 
the red cross, also in form of the lily. The order of St. James 
of Campostella, founded in 1161, and confirmed by the same 
Pope (1175,) was distinguished by a red cross, in form of a 
sword- Finally, the order of Montesa (1317,) supplanted that 
of the Templars in the kingdom of Arragon. 

The Kings of Castille and Arragon having conquered from 
the Arabs a part of what is properly called Portugal, formed it 
into a distinct government, under the name of Portocalo, or Por- 
tugal. Henry of Burgundy, a French prince, grandson of Ro 
bert, called the Old, Duke of Burgundy, and great-grandson of 
Robert II., King of France, having distinguished himself by his 
bravery in the wars between the Castillians and the Mahome- 
tans, Alphonso VI., King of Castille, wished to attach the young 
prince to him by the ties of blood ; and, for this purpose, gave 
him in marriagf Vis daughter the Infant Donna Theresa; and 
created him Count of Portugal (1090.) This State, including 
at first merely the cities of Oporto, Braga, Miranda, Lamego, 
Viseo, and Coimbra, began to assume its present form, in the 
reign of Alphonso I., son of Count Henry. The Mahometans, 
alarmed at the warlike propensities of the young Alphonso, had 
marched with a superior force to attack him by surprise. Far 
from being intimidated by the danger, this prince, to animate 
the courage of his troops, pretended that an apparition from hea- 
ven had authorized him to proclaim himself King in the face ot 
the army, in virtue of an express order which he said he had 
received from Christ. -'^ He then marched against the enemy 

10 



146 CHAPTER V. 

and totally routed them in the plains of Ourique (1139.) This 
victory, famous in the annals of Portugal, paved the way for the 
conquest of the cities Leiria, Santarem, Lisbon, Cintra, Alcazar 
do Sal, Evora, and Elvas, situated on the banks of the Tagua, 
Moreover, to secure the protection of the Court of Rome against 
the Kings of Leon, who disputed with him the independence of 
his new state, Alphonso took the resolution of acknowledging 
himself vassal and tributary to the Holy See (1142.) He after- 
wards convoked the estates of his kingdom at Lamego, and 
there declared his independence by a fundamental law, which 
also regulated the order of succession to the throne. Sancho L, 
son and successor of Alphonso, took from the Mahometans the 
town of Silves in Algarve ; and Alphonso III., soon after, 
(1249,) completed the conquest of that province. 

The first Kings of Portugal, in order to gain the protection of 
the Court of Rome, were obliged to gTant extensive benefices to 
the ecclesiastics, with regalian rights, and the exemption of the 
clergy from the secular jurisdiction. Their successors, how- 
ever, finding themselves firmly established on the throne, soon 
changed their policy, and manifested as much of indifference for 
the clergy as Alphonso I. had testified of kindness and attach- 
ment to them. Hence originated a long series of broils and 
quarrels with the Court of Rome. Pope Innocent IV. deposed 
Sancho II. (1245,) and appointed Alphonso III. in his place. 
Denys, son and successor of this latter prince, was excommuni- 
cated for the same reason, and compelled to sign a treaty (1289,) 
by which the clergy were re-established in all their former rights. 

In France, the whole polic)'^ of the Kings was directed against 
their powerful vassals, who shared among them the finest pro- 
vinces of that kingdom. The Dukes of Burgundy, Normandy, 
and Aquitaine ; the Counts of Flanders, Champagne, and Tou- 
louse ; the Dukes of Bretagne, the Counts of Poitiers, Bar, 
Blois, Anjou and Maine, Alen^on, Auvergne, Angouleme, Pe- 
rigord, Carcassonne, ^ &c. formed so many petty sovereigns, 
equal in some respects to the electors and princes of the Ger- 
manic empire. Several circumstances, however, contributed to 
maintain the balance in favour of royalty. The crown was he- 
reditary, and the demesne lands belonging to the king, which, 
being very extensive, gave him a power which far outweighed 
that of any individual vassal. Besides, these same demesnes 
being situate in the centre of the kingdom, enabled the sovereign 
to observe the conduct of his vassals, to divide their forces, and 
prevent any one from preponderating over another. The per- 
petual wars which they waged with each other, the tyranny 
which they exercised over their dependants, and the enlighten- 



PERIOD IV. A. D. 1074— USOO. 147 

ed policy of several of the French kings, by degrees re-estab- 
lished the royal authority, which had been almost annihilated 
under the last princes of the Carlovingian dynasty. 

It was at this period that the rivalry between France and Eng- 
land had its origin. The fault that Philip I. committed, in 
making no opposition to the conquest of England, by William 
Duke of Normandy, hio vassal, served to kindle the flame of war 
between these princes. The war which took place in 1087, was 
the first that happened between the two nations ; it was renewed 
under the subsequent reigns, and this rivalr)-- was still more in- 
creased, on occasion of the unfortunate divorce between Louis 

VII. and Eleanor of Poitou, heiress of Guienne, Poitou, and 
Gascogne. This divorced Princess married (1152) Henry, sur- \ 
named Plantagenet, Duke of Normandy, Count of Anjou and j 
Maine, and afterwards King of England ; and brought him, in | 
dowry, the whole of her vast possession:. But it was reserved ' 
for Philip Augustus to repair the fauils of his predecessors. I 
This great monarch, whose courage was equal to his prudence 
and his policy, recovered his superiority over England ; he 
strengthened his power and authority by the numerous acces- 
sions which he made to the crown-lands, ^^ (1180-1220.) Be- 
sides Artois, Vermandois, the earldoms of Evreux, Auvergne, 
and Alen';on, which he annexed under different titles, he took 
advantage of the civil commotions which had arisen in England 
agamst King John, to dispossess the English of Normandy, An- 
jou, Maine, Lorraine, and Poitou (1203;) and he maintained 
these conquests by the brilliant victory which he gained at Bou- 
vines (1214,) over the combined forces of England, the Empe- 
ror Otho, and the Count of Flanders. ^^ 

Several of the French kings were exclusively occupied with 
the crusades in the East. Louis VII., Philip Augustus, and 
Louis IX. took the cross, and marched in person to the Holy 
Land. These ultra-marine expeditions (1147, 1248,) which re- 
quired great and powerful resources, could not but exhaust 
France ; while, on the contrary, the crusades which Louis VIII. 
undertook against the Albigenses and their protectors, the Counts 
of Toulouse and Carcassonne, considerably augmented the royal 
power. Pope Innocent III., by proclaiming this crusade (1208,) 
raised a tedious and bloody war, which desolated Languedoc ; 
and during which, fanaticism perpetrated atrocities which make 
humanity shudder. Simon, Count Monfort, the chief or general 
of these crusaders, had the whole estates of the counts of Tou- 
louse adjudged him by the Pope. Amauri, the son and heir ot 
Simon, surrendered his claims over these forfeitures to Louis 

VIII. King of France (1226 ;) and it was this circumstance that 



148 CHAPTEE V. 

induced Louis to march in person at the head of the crusaders, 
against the Count of Toulouse, his vassal and cousin. He died 
at the close of this expedition, leaving to his son and successor, 
Louis IX., the task of finishing this disastrous war. By the 
peace which was concluded at Paris (1229,) between the King 
and the Count, the greater part of Languedoc was allowed to re- 
main in the possession of Louis. One arrangement of this 
treaty was the marriage of the Count's daughter with Al- 
phonso, brother to the King ; with this express clause, that 
failing heirs of this marriage, the whole territory of Toulouse 
should revert to the crown. The same treaty adjudged to the 
Pope the county of Venaissin, as an escheat of the Counts of 
Toulouse ; and the Count of Carcassonne, implicated also in 
the cause of the Albigenses, was compelled to cede to the King 
all right over the viscounties of Beziers, Carcassonne, Agde, 
Rodez, Albi, and Nismes. One consequence of this bloody 
war was the establishment of the terrible tribunal of the In- 
quisition,-'^ and the founding of the order of Dominicans.^ 

Henry II., a descendant of the house of Plantagenet, having 
mounted the throne of England, in right of his mother Ma- 
tilda, annexed to that crown the dutchy of Normundy, the coun- 
tries of Anjou, Touraine, and Maine, together with Guienne, 
Gascogne and Poitou. He afterwards added Ireland, which he 
subdued in 1172. This island, which had never been con- 
quered, either by the Romans, or the barbarians who had deso- 
lated Europe, was, at that time, divided into five principal 
sovereignties, viz. Munsler, Ulster, Connaught, Leinsier, and 
Meath, whose several chiefs all assumed the title of Kings. 
One of these princes enjoyed the dignity of monarch of the 
island ; but he had neither authority sufficient to secure inter- 
nal tranquillity, nor power enough to repel with success the 
attacks of enemies from without. It was this state of weakness 
that induced Henry to attempt the conquest of the island. He 
obtained the sanction of Pope Adrian IV., by a bull in 1155, and 
undertook, in a formal engagement, to subject the Irish to the 
jurisdiction of the Holy See, and the payment of Peter^s pence.^ 
The expulsion of Dermot, king of Leinster, who had rendered 
himself odious by his pride and his tyranny, furnished Henry 
with a pretext for sending troops into that island, to assist the 
dethroned prince in recovering his dominions. The success of 
the English, and the victories which they gained over Roderic, 
King of Connaught, who at that time was chief monarch of the 
island, determined Henry to undertake, in person, an expedition 
into Ireland (in October 1172.) He soon reduced the provinces 
of Leinster and Munster to submission : and after having con- 



PERIOD IV. A. D. 1074—1300. 149 

siructed several forts, and nominatea a viceroy and other crown 
officers, he took his departure without completing the conquest 
of the island. Roderic, Kingof Connaught, submitted in 1175; 
but it was not till the reign of Queen Elizabeth that the entire 
reduction of Ireland was accomplished. 

In England, the rashness and rapacity of John, son of Henry 
II. occasioned a mighty revolution in the government. The 
discontented nobles, with the Archbishop of Canterbury at their 
head, joined in a league against the King. Pope Innocent III. 
formally deposed him, made over his kingdom to the Crown of 
France, and proclaimed a crusade against him in every coun- 
try of Europe. John obtained an accommodation with the 
Pope ; and in order to secure his protection, he consented to be- 
come a vassal of the Church, both for England and Ireland ; 
engaging to pay his Holiness, besides Peter's pence, an annual 
tribute of a thousand marks. But all in vain ; the nobles per 
sisted in their revolt, and forced the King to grant them the 
grand charter of Magna Charta^ by which he and his succes- 
sors were for ever deprived of the power of exacting subsidies 
without the counsel and advice of Parliament ; which did not 
then include the Commons. He granted to the city of London, 
and to all cities and burghs in the kingdom, a renewal of 
their ancient liberties and privileges, and the right of not being 
taxed except with the advice and consent of the common coun- 
cil. Moreover, the lives and properties of the citizens were 
secured by this charter; one clause of which expressly pro- 
vided, that no subject could be either arrested, imprisoned, dis- 
possessed of his fortune, or deprived of his life, except by a 
legal sentence of his peers, conform to the ancient law of the 
country. This charter, which was renewed in various subse- 
quent reigns, forms, at this day, the basis of the English 
Constitution. 

King John, meantime, rebelled against this charter, and 
caused it to be rescinded by Pope Innocent III., who even is- 
sued a bull of excommunication against the barons ; but they, 
far from being disconcerted or intimidated, made an offer of 
their crown to Louis, son of Philip Augustus King of France. 
This prince repaired to England, and there received the fealty 
and homage of the grandees and the nation. John, abandoned 
by all his subjects, attempted to take refuge in Scotland ; but 
he died in his flight at the castle of Newark. His death made 
a sudden change in the minds and sentiments of the English. 
The barons forsook the standard of the French prince, and 
rallied round ihat of young Henry, son of King John, whose 
long and unfortunate reign was a succession of troubles and 



I I 

I : 



150 CHAPTER V. 

intestine wars. Edward I., son and successor of Henry III., as 
determined and courageous as his father had been weak and 
indolent, restored tranquillity to England, and made his name 
illustrious by the conquest which he made of the principality of 
Wales. 

This district, from the most remote antiquity, was ruled by 
Its own native princes, descended from the ancient British kings. 
Although they had been vassals and tributaries of the kings of 
England, they exercised, nevertheless, the rights of sovereignty 
in their own country. Lewellyn, prince of Wales, having es- 
poused the cause of the insurgents in the reign of Henry III., 
and made some attempts to withdraw from the vassalage of the 
English crown, Edward I. declared war against him (1282;) 
and in a battle fought near the Menau, Lewellyn was defeated 
and slain, with two thousand of his followers. David, his bro- 
ther and successor, met with a fate still more melancholy. Hav- 
ing been taken prisoner by Edward, he w^as condemned to death, 
and executed like a traitor (1283.) The territory of Wales was 
annexed to the crown; the king created his eldest son Edward, 
Prince of Wales ; a title which has since been borne by the 
eldest sons of the kings of England. 

At this period, the kingdoms of the North presented, in gen- 
eral, little else than a spectacle of horror and carnage. The 
warlike and ferocious temper of the Northern nations, the want 
of fixed and specific laws in the succession of their kings,^^ gave 
rise to innumerable factions, encouraged insolence, and foment- 
ed troubles and intestine wars. An extravagant and supersti- 
tious devotion, by loading the church with wealth, aggravated 
still more the evils with which these kingdoms were distracted. 
The bishops and the new metropolitans,*'^ enriched at the ex- 
pense of the crown-lands, and rendered bold by their power, 
and the strength of their castles, domineered in the senate and 
the assemblies of the states, and neglected no opportunity of 
encroaching on the sovereign's authority. They obtained, by 
compulsion, the introduction of tithes, and the immunity of the 
ecclesiastics ; and thus more and more increased and cemented 
the sacerdotal power. ^ This state of trouble and internal com- 
motion tended to abate that ardour for maritime incursions 
which had so long agitated the Scandinavian nations. It did 
not, however, prevent the kings of Denmark and Sweden from 
undonaking, from time to time, expeditions by sea, under the 
name of Crusades, for the conversion of the Pagan nations of 
he North, whose territories they were ambitious to conquer. 

The Slavians, who inhabited the coasts of the Baltic, were 
then constantly committing piracies, in imitation of the ancient 



PERIOD IV. A. D. 1074—1300. 151 

Normans, plundering and ravaging the provinces and islands 
of Denmark. Valdemar I., wishing to put an end to these de- 
vastations, and thirsting moreover for the glory of converting to 
Christianity those nations against whom all the efforts of the 
Germans had failed, attacked them at different times with his 
numerous flotillas. He took and pillaged several of their towns, 
such as Arcona and Carentz or Gariz, in the isle of Rugen 
(1168,) Julin, now called Wollin, and Stettin, two seaports in 
Pomerania (1175-6.) He made the princes of Rugen his vas- 
sals and tributaries, and is generally regarded as the founder of 
Dantzic (1165,) which originally was merely a fort constructed 
by the Danes. Canute VI., son and successor of Valdemar I., 
followed the example of his father; he reduced the princes of 
Pomerania (1183) and Mecklenburg (1186,) and the Counts of 
Schwerin (1201,) lo a state of dependence; he made himself 
master of Hamburg and Lubec, and subdued the whole of Hol- 
stein. Valdemar II. assumed the title of King of the Slavians, 
and Lord of Nordalbingia. He added Lauenburg, a part of 
Prussia, Esthonia, and the Isle of Oesel, to the conquests of his 
predecessors, and became the founder of the cities of Stralsund 
and Revel (1209 and 1222.) 

This prince, master of nearly the whole southern coast of the 
Baltic, and raised to the summit of prosperity by the superiority 
of his commercial and maritime power, commanded for a time 
the attention of all Europe ; but an unforeseen event eclipsed 
his glory, and deprived him of all the advantages of his victories 
and his conquests. Henry, Count of Schwerin, one of the vas- 
sals of Valdemar, wishing to avenge an outrage which he pre- 
tended to have received from him, seized that prince by surprise 
(1223,) and detained him for three years prisoner in the castle 
of Schwerin. This circumstance aroused the courage of the 
o,ther vanquished nations, who instantly took to arms. Adol- 
phus, Count of Schauenburg, penetrated into Holstein, and 
subdued the princes of Mecklenburg and Pomerania, with the 
cities of Hamburg and Lubec. Valdemar, restored to liberty, 
made several efforts to reconquer his revolted provinces ; but a 
powerful confederacy being formed against him, he was defeat- 
ed in a battle fought (1227,) at Bornhoevet, near Segeberg, in 
Holstein. Of all his conquests, he retained only the Isle of 
Rugen, Esthonia, and the town of Revel, which, in course of 
time, were lost or abandoned by his successors. 

Sweden, which had been governed in succession by the dy- 
nasties of Slenkil, Swerkar, and St. Eric, was long a prey to 
internal dissensions, which arose principally from the two dif- 
ferent forms of worship professed and authorized by the state. 



152 CHAPTER V. 

The whole nation, divided in their religious sentiments, saw 
themselves arranged into two factions, and under two reigning 
families, mutually hating and exasperated against each other, 
for nearly half a century. Two, and sometimes more, princes 
were seen reigning at once from 1080 till 1133, when the throne 
began to be occupied ultimately by the descendants of Sweyn 
and St. Eric. During all this time, violence usurped the place 
of right, and the crown of Sweden was more than once the 
prize of assassination and treason. 

In the midst of these intestine disorders, we find the Swedes 
even attempting foreign conquests. To these they were insti- 
gated both by the genius of the age, which encouraged crusades 
and military missions, as well as by the desire of avenging the 
piracies which the Finlanders, and other Pagan tribes of the 
North, committed from time to time on the coasts of Sweden. 
St. Eric became at once the apostle and the conqueror of Fin- 
land (1157;) he established also a Swedish colony in Nyland, 
and subdued the provinces of Helsingland and Jamptland. 
Charles I., son of Swerkar, united the kingdom of Gothland to 
Sweden, and was the first that took the title of these two king- 
doms. Eric, surnamed Laspe, or the Lisper, resumed the cru- 
sading system of warfare ; and, in the character of a missionary, 
conquered Tavastland and the eastern part of Bothnia. Birger, 
a prince of the Folkungian dynasty, who ascended the throne 
of Sweden in 1250, conquered, under the same pretext, Carelia 
and Savolax, and fortified Viburg. He compelled the inhabit- 
ants of these countries to embrace the Christian religion (1293,) 
and annexed them to Finland. We find, also, several of the 
Swedish kings undertaking missionary expeditions against their 
Pagan neighbours the Esthonians, who, from time to time, com- 
mitted dreadful ravages on the coasts of Sweden. These ex- 
peditions, which were always esteemed sacred, served as an 
excuse for the sovereigns of the North in avoiding the crusades 
to the Holy Land, in which they took no part.^^ 

Prussia and the Prussians are totally unknown in history be- 
fore the end of the tenth century.^ The author of the Life of 
St. Adelbert of Prague, who suffered martyrdom in Prussia in 
the reign of Olho III., is the first that mentions them under this 
new name (997.) Two hundred years after, the Abbe of Oliva, 
surnamed the Christian, became the apostle of the Prussians, 
and was appointed by Pope Innocent III. the first bishop ol 
Prussia (1215.) This idolatrous nation, haughty and indepen- 
dent, and attached to the reigning superstition, having repulsed 
all the efforts that were repeatedly made to convert them to 
Christianity, Pope Honorius III., in the true spirit of his age, 



PERIOD IV. A. D. 1074—1300. 153 

published a Crusade against them (1218,) to proselytize them 
by force. Armies of crusaders were poured into Prussia, and 
overran the whole country with fire and sword. The Prussians 
took cruel vengeance on the Polonese of Masovia, who had 
made common cause against them with the crusaders of the 
East. At length, Conrad, duke of Masovia, finding himself too 
weak to withstand the fury of the Prussians, called in the Teu- 
tonic knights to his aid ; and, anxious to secure for ever the as- 
sistance and protection of that order, he made them a grant of 
the territory of Culm ; and moreover, promised them whatever 
lands he might conquer from the common enemy (1226.) This 
contract having been sanctioned by the Emperor Frederic II., 
the knights speedily came into possession of their new domin- 
ions (1230.) They extended themselves by degrees over all 
Prussia, after a long and murderous war, which they had ear- 
ned on against the idolatrous natives. That country, which 
had been peopled by numerous German colonies in succession, 
did not submit to the yoke of the Teutonic order, until the 
greater part of its ancient inhabitants had been destroyed. The 
Knights took care to confirm their authority and their relig^ion 
in Prussia, by constructing cities and forts, and founding 
bishoprics and convents. The city of Koninsberg *^ on the 
Pregel, was built in 1255; and that of Marienburg on the No- 
gat, which became the capital of the Order, is supposed to have 
been founded in 1280. 

The Teutonic knights completed the conquest of that coun- 
try (1283,) by the reduction of Sudavia, the last of the eleven 
provinces which composed ancient Prussia. We can scarcely 
conceive how a handful of these knights should have been able, 
in so short a time, to vanquish a warlike and powerful nation, 
inspired with the love of liberty, and emboldened by fanaticism 
to make the most intrepid and obstinate defence. But we ought 
to take into consideration, that the indulgences of the court of 
Rome allured continually into Prussia a multitude of crusaders 
from all the provinces of the Empire; and that the knights 
gained these over to their ranks, by distributing among them 
the lands which they had won by conquest. In this way, their 
numbers were incessantly recruited by new colonies of crus?- 
ders, and the nobles flocked in crowds to their standard, to seek 
territorial acquisitions in Prussia. 

The increase of commerce on the Baltic, in the twelfth cen- 
tury, led the Germans to discover the coasts of Livonia. Some 
merchants from Bremen, on their way to Wisby, in the island 
of Gothland, a seaport on the Baltic very much frequented at 
that time, were thrown by a tempest on the coast near the mouth 



154 CHAPTER V. 

of the Dwina (1158.) The desire o^ gain induced them to enter 
into a correspondence witli the natives of the country ; and, 
from a wish to give stability to a branch of commerce which 
mieht become very lucrative, they attempted to introduce the 
Christian religion into Livonia. A monk of Segeberg in Hol- 
stein, named Mainard, undertook this mission. He was the first 
bishop of Livonia (1192,) and fixed his residence at the castle of 
UxkuU, which he strengthened by fortifications. Berthold, his 
successor, wishing to accelerate the progress of Christianity, as 
j well as to avoid the dangers to which his mission exposed him, 
caused the Pope to publish a crusade against the Livonians. 
This zealous prelate perished sword in hand, fighting against 
the people whom he intended to convert. The priests, aftei 
this, were either massacred or expelled from Livonia ; but, in a 
short time, a new army of crusaders marched into the country, 
under the banner of Albert, the third bishop, who built the city 
of Riga, (1200) which became the seat of his bishopric, and after- 
wards the metropolitan see of all Prussia and Livonia. The 
same prelate founded the military order of the Knights of Christ 
or Sword-bearers, to whom he ceded the third of all the coun- 
tries he had conquered. This order, confirmed by Pope Inno- 
cent III. (1204,) finding themselves too weak to oppose the 
Pagans of Livonia, agreed to unite with the Teutonic order 
(1237,) who, at that time, nominated the generals or provincial 
masters in Livonia, known by the names of Heermeister and 
Landmeister. Pope Gregory IX., in confirming the union of 
these two orders, exacted the surrender of the districts of Revel, 
Wesemberg,Weisenstein, and Hapsal, to Valdemar II., which the 
knights, with consent of the Bishop of Dorpat, had taken from him 
during his captivity. This retrocession was made by an act pass- 
ed at Strensby, (1238.) Several documents which still exist in 
the private archives of the Teutonic order at Koningsberg, and 
especially two, dated 1249 and 1254, prove that, at this period, 
the bishops of Riga still exercised superiority, both temporal and 
spiritual, over these Knights Sword-bearers, although they were 
united with the Teutonic order, which was independent of these 
bishops. The combination of these two orders rendered them so 
powerful, that they gradually extended their conquests over all 
Prussia, Livonia, Courland, and Semigallia ; but they could 
never succeed farther than to subject these nations to a rigorous 
servitude, under pretence of conversion. 

Before we speak of Russia and the other Eastern countries of 
Europe, it will be necessary to turn our attention for a little to 
the Moguls, whose conquests and depredations extended, in the 
thirteenth century, from the extremity of northern Asia, over 



PERIOD IV. A. D. 1074—1300. 165 

Russia and the greater pan of Europe. The native countrv of 
this people is found to be those same regions which they still 
inhabit in our day, and which are situated to the north of the 
great wall of China, between Eastern Tartary and modern Buk- 
haria. They are generally confounded with the Tartars, from 
whom they differ essentially, both in their appearance and man- 
ners, as well as in their religion and political institutions. This 
nation is divided into two principal branches, the Eluths or 
Oelots, better known by the name of Calmucs, and the Moguls, 
properly so called. These latter, separated from the Calmucs 
by the mountains of Altai, are now subject to the dominion of 
China. 

The Moguls, scarcely known at present in the history of Eu- 
rope, owe their greatness to the genius of one man — the famous 
Zinghis Khan. This extraordinary person, whose real name 
was Temudgin, or, according to Pallas, Dcemittschin, was born 
in the year 1163, and originally nothing more than the chief of 
a particular horde of Moguls, who had settled on the banks of 
the rivers Onon and Kerlon, and were tributary to the empire of 
Kin. His first exploits were against the other hordes of Mo- 
guls, whom he compelled to acknowledge his authority. Em 
boldened by success, he conceived the romantic idea of aspiring 
to be the conqueror of the world. For this purpose, he assem- 
bled near the source of the river Onon, in 1206, all the chiefs 
of the Mogul hordes, and the generals of his armies. A certain 
pretender to inspiration, whom the people regarded as a holy 
man, appeared in the assembly, and declared that it was the will 
of God that Temudgin should rule over the whole earth, — that 
all nations should submit to him, — and that henceforth he should 
bear the title of Tschinghis-Kkan, or Most Great Emperor.^ 

In a short time, this new conqueror subdued the two great 
empires of the Tartars ; one of which, called also the empire of 
Kin, embraced the whole of Eastern Tartary, and the northern 
part of China ; the other, that of Kara-Kitai, or the Khitans, ex- 
tended over Western Tartary, and had its capital at Kaschgar 
in Bukharia.'*^ He afterwards attacked the Carismian Sultans 
who ruled over Turkestan, Transoxiana, Charasm, Chora- 
san, and all Persia, from Derbent to Irak-Arabia and the Indies. 
This powerful monarchy was overturned by Zinghis-Khan, in 
the course of six campaigns ; and it was during this war that 
the Moguls, while marching under the conduct of Toushi, the 
eldest son of Zinghis-Khan, against the Kipzacs or Capchacs, 
to the north of the Caspian Sea, made their first inroad into 
the Russian empire. Zinghis, after having subdued the whole 
of Tangout, died in the sixty-fifth year of his age (1227.) His- 



156 CHAPTER V. 

torians have remarked in him the traits of a great man, bom 
to command others, but whose noble qualities were tarnished by 
the ferocity of his nature, which took delight in carnage, plun- 
der, and devastation. Humanity shudders at the recital of the 
inexpressible horrors exercised by this barbarian, whose maxim 
was to exterminate, without mercy, all who offered the least re- 
sistance to his victorious arms. 

The successors of this Mogul conqueror followed him in his 
career of victory. They achieved the conquest of all China, 
overturned the caliphate of Bagdat, and rendered the sultans of 
Iconium their tributaries."** Octai-Khan, the immediate succes- 
sor of Zinghis, despatched from the centre of China two pow- 
erful armies, the one against Corea, and the other against the 
nations that lie to the north and north-west of the Caspian Sea. 
This latter expedition, which had for its chiefs Gayouk, son of 
Octai, and Batou, eldest son of Toushi, and grandson of Zinghis- 
Khan, after having subdued all Kipzak, penetrated into Russia, 
which they conquered in 1237. Hence they spread over Poland, 
Silesia, Moravia, Hungary, and the countries bordering on the 
Adriatic Sea ; they plundered cities, laid waste the countr)', 
and carried terror and destruction wherever they went.''^ All 
Europe trembled at the sight of these barbarians, who seemed 
as if they wished to make the whole earth one vast empire of 
desolation. The empire of the Moguls attained its highest point 
of elevation under Cublai, grandson of Zinghis, towards the end 
of the 13th century. From south to north, it extended from 
the Chinese Sea and the Indies, to the extremity of Siberia ; 
and from east to west, from Japan to Asia Minor, and the fron- 
tiers of Poland in Europe. China, and Chinese Tartary formed 
the seat of the empire, and the residence of the Great Khan ; 
while the other parts of the dominions were governed by princes 
of the family of Zinghis Khan, who either acknowledged the 
Great Khan as their supreme master, or had their own particular 
kings and chiefs that paid him tribute. The principal subordi- 
nate Khans of the race of Zinghis, were those of Persia, Zagatai, 
and Kipzac. Their dependence on the Great Khan or emperor 
of China, ceased entirely on the death of Cublai (1294,) and the 
power of the Moguls soon became extinct in China. ''^ 

As for the Moguls of Kipzac, their dominion extended over 
all the Tartar countries situated to the north of the Caspian and 
the Euxine, as also over Russia and the Crimea. Batou-Khan, 
eldest son of Toushi, was the founder of this dynasty. Being 
addicted to a wandering life, the Khans of Kipzac encamped on 
the banks of the Wolga, passing from one place to another with 
iheir tents and flocks, according to the custom of the Mogul and 



PEHIOD IV. A. D. 1074—1300. ISf 

Tartar nations. ''''^ The principal sect of tiiese Khans was called 
the Grand or Golden Horde or the Horde of Kipzac, which was 
long an object of the greatest terror to the Russians, Poles, 
Lithuanians and Hungarians. Its glory declined towards the 
end of the fourteenth century, and entirely disappeared under 
the last Khan Achmet, in 1481. A few separate hordes were 
all that remained, detached from the grand horde, such as those 
of Cassan, Astracan, Siberia and the Crimea ; — all of which were 
in their turn subdued or extirpated by the Russians.''^ 

A crowd of princes, descendants of Vlademir the Great, had 
shared among them the vast dominions of Russia. One of these 
princes invested with the dignity of Grand Duke, exercised cer- 
tain rights of superiority over the rest^ who nevertheless acted 
the part of petty sovereigns, and made war on each other. The 
capital of these Grand Dukes was Kiow, which was also regard- 
ed as the metropolis of the empire. Andrew I. prince of Suzdal, 
having assumed the title of Grand Duke (1157,) fixed his resi- 
dence at Vlademir on the river Kliazma, and thus gave rise to a 
kind of political schism, the consequences of which were most 
fatal to the Russians. The Grand Dutchy of Kiow, with its 
dependent principalities, detached themselves by degrees from 
the rest of the empire, and finally became a prey to the Lithu- 
anians and Poles. 

In the midst of these divisions and intestine broils, and when 
Russia was struggling with difficulty against the Bulgarians, 
Polowzians,'*^ and other barbarous tribes in the neighbourhood, 
she had the misfortune to be attacked by the Moguls under 
Zinghis Khan. Toushi, eldest son of that conqueror, having 
marched round the Caspian, in order to attack the Polowzians, 
encountered on his passage the Princes of Kiow, who were 
allies of that people. The battle which he fought (1223,) on 
the banks of the river Kalka, was one of the most sanguinary 
lecorded in history. The Russians were totally defeated ; six 
of their princes perished on the field of battle ; and the whole 
of Western Russia was laid open to the conqueror. The Mo- 
guls penetrated as far as Novogorod, wasting the whole country 
on their march with fire and sword. They returned by the same 
route, but without extending their ravages farther. In 1237 
they made a second invasion, under the conduct of Batou, son 
of Toushi, and governor of the northern parts of the Mogul 
empire. This prince, after having vanquished the Polow- 
zians and Bulgarians, that is, the whole country of Kipzac. 
entered the north of Russia, where he took Rugen and Moscow, 
and cut to pieces an army of the Russians near Kolomna. 
Several other towns in this part of Russia were sucked by the 






158 CHAPTER V. 

Mof^uls, in the commencement of the following year. The 
lamily of the Grand Duke, Juri II., perished in the sack of Via- 
demir; and he himself fell in the battle which he fought With 
the Moguls near the river Sita. Batou extended his conquests 
in Northern Russia as far as the city Torshok, in the territory of 
Novogorod. For some years he continued his ravages over the 
whole of Western Russia ; where, among others, he took Kiow, 
Kaminiec in Podolia, Vlademir and Halitsch. From this we 
may date the fall of the Grand Dutchy of Kiow, or Western 
Russia, which, with its dependent principalities in the following 
century, came into the possession of the Lithuanians and Poles. 
As for the Grand Dutchy of Vlademir, which comprehended 
Eastern and Northern Russia, it was subdued by the Moguls 
or Tartars, whose terrible yoke it wore for more than two 
hundred years.*' 

An extraordinary person who appeared at this disastrous 
crisis, preserved that part of Russia from sinking into total 
ruin. This was Prince Alexander, son of the Grand Duke, 
Jaroslaus II., who obtained the epithet or surname of Neioski, 
from a victory which he gained over the Knights of Livonia 
near the Neva, (124L) Elevated by the Khan Batou, to the 
dignity of Grand Duke (1245,) he secured, by his prudent con- 
duct, his punctuality in paying tribute, and preserving his al- 
legiance to the Mogul emperors, the good will of these new 
masters of Russia, during his whole reign. When this great 
prince died in 1261, his name was enrolled in their calendar of 
saints. Peter the Great built, in honour of his memory, a con- 
vent on the banks of the Neva, to which he gave the name of 
Alexander Newski ; and the Empress Catherine I., instituted 
an order of knighthood that was also called after the name of 
that prince. 

Poland, which was divided among several princes of the 
Piast dynasty, had become, at the lime of which we speak, a 
prey to intestine factions, and exposed to the incursions of the 
neighbouring barbarians. These divisions, the principal source 
of all the evils that afflicted Poland, continued down to the 
death of Boleslaus II. (1138,) who, having portioned his es- 
tates among his sons, ordered that the eldest should retain the 
district of Cracow, under the title of Monarch, and that he 
should exercise the rights of superiority over the provincial 
dukes and princes, his brothers. This clause, which might 
have prevented the dismemberment of the state, served only lo 
kindle the flame of discord among these collegatory princes, 
niadislaus, who is generally considered as the eldest of these 
sons, having attempted to dispossess his brothers (1146,) they 



!i 



1 1 
1 1 



I! 

! I 



PERIOD IV. A. D. 1074—1300. 169 

rose in arms, expelled him from Poland, and obliged bis de- 
scendants to content themselves with Silesia. His sons founded, 
in that country, numerous families of dukes and princes, who 
introduced German colonies into Silesia ; all of which, in course 
of time, became subject to the kings of Bohemia. Conrad, son 
of Casimir the Just, and grandson of Boleslaus III., was th** 
ancestor of the Dukes of Cujavia and Masovia. It was this 
prince who called in the assistance of the Teutonic Knights 
against the Pagans of Prussia, and established that order in 
the territory of Culm (1230.) 

The Moguls, after having vanquished Russia, took posses- 
sion of Poland (1240.) Having gained the victory at the battle 
of Schiedlow, they set fire to Cracow, and then marched to 
Lignitz in Silesia, where a numerous army of crusaders were 
assembled under the command of Henry, duke of Breslau. 
This prince was defeated, and slain in the action. The whole 
of Silesia, as well as Moravia, was cruelly pillaged and deso- 
lated by the Moguls. 

Hungary, at this period, presented the spectacle of a warlike 
and barbarous nation, the ferocity of whose manners cannot be 
better attested than by the laws passed in the reigns of Ladis- 
laus and Coloman, about the end of the eleventh and beg-innine 

' ^ Do 

of the twelfth century. Crimes were then punished either with 
the loss of liberty, or of some member of the body, such as the 
eye, the nose, the tongue, &c. These laws were published in 
their general assemblies, which were composed of the king 
the great officers of the crown, and the representatives of the 
clergy and the free men. All the other branches of the execu- 
tive power pertained to the kings, who made war and peace at 
their pleasure ; while the counts or governors of provinces 
claimed no power either personal or hereditary.^^ 

Under a government so despotic, it was easy for the kings 
of Hungary to enlarge the boundaries of their states. Ladis- 
laus took from the Greeks the dutchy of Sirmium (1080,) com- 
prising the lower part of Sclavonia. This same prince extend- 
ed his conquests into Croatia, a country which was governed 
for several ages by the Slavian princes, who possessed Upper 
Sclavonia, and ruled over a great part of ancient Illyria and 
Dalmatia, to which they gave the name of Croatia. Dircislaus 
was the first of these princes that took the title of king (in 984.) 
Demetrius Swinimir, one of his successors, did homage to the 
Pope, in order to obtain the protection of the Holy See (1076.) 
The line of these kings having become extinct some time after, 
Ladislaus, whose sister had been married to Demetrius Swini- 
mir, took advantage of the commotion that had arisen in Croatia, 



I 
II 



160 CRAPTEH V. 

and conquered a great part of that kingdom (1091,) and es* 
pecially Upper Sclavonia, which was one of its dependencies. 
Coloman completed their conquest in 1102, and the same year 
he was crowned at Belgrade king of Croatia and Dalmatia. In 
course of a few years, he subdued the maritime cities of Dal- 
matia, such as Spalatro, Trau, and Zara, which he took from 
the republic of Venice.** The kingdom of Rama or Bosnia, 
fell at the same time under his power. He took the title of 
King of Rama (1103;) and Bela II., his successor, made over 
the dutchy of Bosnia to Ladislaus, his younger son. The so- 
vereignty of the Kings of Hungary was also occasionally ac- 
knowledged by the princes and kings of Bulgaria and Servia, 
5ind even by the Russian princes of Halitsch and Wolodimir. 
1 These conquests gave rise to an abuse rvhich soon proved 
fatal to Hungary. The kings claimed for themselves the right 
of disposing of the newly conquered provinces in favour of their 
younger sons, to whom they granted them under the title of 
dutchies, and with the rights of sovereignty. These latter made 
use of their supreme power to excite factions and stir up civil wars. 

The reigfn of Kincf Andrew II. was rendered remarkable by a 
revolution which happened in the government (1217.) This 
prince having undertaken an expedition to the Holy Land, which 
he equipped at an extravagant and ruinous expense, the nobles 
availed themselves of his absence to augment their own power, 
and usurp the estates and revenues of the crown. Corruption 
had pervaded every branch of the administration ; and the king, 
after his return, made several ineffectual efforts to remedy the 
disorders of the government, and recruit his exhausted finances. 
At length he adopted the plan of assembling a general Diet 
(1222,) in which was passed the famous decree or Golden Bull 
which forms the basis of that defective constitution which pre- 
vails in Hungary at this day. The property of the clergy and 
the noblesse were there declared exempt from taxes and military 
cess; the nobles acquired hereditary possession ot the royal 
grants which they had received in recompense for their services ; 
they were freed from the obligation of marching at their own 
expense on any expedition out of the kingdom ; and even the 
right of resistance was allowed them, in case the king should 
mfringe any article of the decree. It was this king also (An- 
drew II.) that conferred several important privileges and immu- 
nities on the Saxons, or Germans of Transylvania, who had been 
invited thither by Geisa II. about the year 1142. 

Under the reign of Bela IV. (1241,) Hungary was suddenly 
inundated with an army of Moguls, commanded by several chiefs, 
the principal of whom were Batou, the son of Toushi, and Ga- 




Venice in the 16th Century. P. 13S. 




Zenghis Khan, the Mogul Prince P. 155. 



PERIOD IV. A. D. 1074—1300 161 

youk, son of the great Khan Octai. The Hungarians, sunk m 
effeminacjr and living in perfect security, had neglected to pro^ 
vide in time for their defence. Having at length rallied round 
the banner of their king, they pitched their camp very negli- 
gently on the banks of the Sajo, where they were surprised by 
the Moguls, who made terrible havoc of them. Coloman, the 
king's brother, was slain in the action ; and the king himself 
succeeded with difficulty in saving himself among the isles of 
Dalmatia. The whole of Hungary was now at the mercy of 
the conqueror, who penetrated with his victorious troops into 
Sclavonia, Croatia, Dalmatia, Bosnia, Servia, and Bulgaria; 
evf^ry where glutting his fury with the blood of the people, 
which he shed in torrents. These barbarians seemed determin- 
ed to fix their residence in Hungary, when the news of the death 
of the Khan Octai, and the accession of his son Gayouk to the 
throne of China, induced them to abandon their conquest in less 
than three years, and return to the East loaded with immense 
booty. On hearing this intelligence, Bela ventured from his 
place of retreat and repaired to Hungary, where he assembled 
the remains of his subjects, who were wandering in the forests, 
or concealed among the mountains. He rebuilt the cities that 
were laid in ashes, imported new colonies from Croatia, Bohe- 
mia, Moravia, and Saxony; and, by degrees, restored life and 
vigour to the state, which had been almost annihilated by the 
Moguls. 

The Empire of the Greeks, at this time, was gradually verg- 
ing towards its downfall. Harassed on the east by the Selju- 
kian Turks, infested on the side of the Danube by the Hunga- 
rians, the Patzinacites, the Uzes and the Cunians ; ^^ and torn 
to pieces by factious and intestine wars, that Empire was making 
but a feeble resistance to the incessant attacks of its enemies, 
when it was suddenly threatened with entire destruction by the 
effects of the fourth crusade. The Emperor Isaac Angelus had 
been dethroned by his brother, Alexius III. (1195,) who had 
cruelly caused his eyes to be put out. The son of Isaac, called 
also Alexius, found means to save his life ; he repaired to Zara, 
in Dalmatia (1203,) to implore the aid of the Crusaders, who, 
after having assisted the Venetians to recover that rebellious 
city, were on the point of setting sail for Palestine. The young 
Alexius offered to indemnify the Crusaders for the expenses of 
any expedition which they might undertake in his favour ; he 
•gave them reason to expect a reunion of the two churches, and 
considerable supplies, both in men and money, to assist them in 
reconquering the Holy Land. Yielding to these solicitations, 
the allied chiefs, instead of passing directly to Syria, set sail for 

11 



162 CHAPTER V. 

Constantinople. They immediately laid siege to the city, ex- 
pelled the usurper, and restored Isaac to the throne, in conjunc- 
tion with his son Alexius. 

Scarcely had the Crusaders quitted Constantinople, when a 
new revolution happened there. Another Alexius, surnamed 
Mourzoujle, excited an insurrection among the Greeks ; and 
having procured the death of the Emperors Isaac and Alexius, 
he made himself master of the throne. The Crusaders imme- 
diately returned, again laid siege to Constantinople, which they 
took by assault; and after having slain the usurper, they elected 
a new Emperor in the person of Baldwin, Earl of Flanders, and 
one of the noble Crusaders. ^ This event transferred the Greek 
Empire to the Latins (1204.) It was followed by a union of 
the two churches, which, however, was neither general nor per- 
manent, as it terminated with the reign of the Latins at Con 
stantinople. 

Meantime, the Crusaders divided among themselves the pro- 
vinces of the Greek Empire, — both those which they had al- 
ready seized, and those which yet remained to be conquered. 
The greater part of the maritime coasts of the Adriatic, Greece, 
the Archipelago, the Propontis, and the Euxine; the islands of 
the Cyclades and Sporades, and those of the Adriatic, were ad- 
judged to the republic of Venice. Boniface, Marquis of Mont- 
ferrat, and commander-in-chief of the crusade, obtained for his 
share the island of Crete or Candia, and all that belonged to the 
Empire beyond the Bosphorus. He afterwards sold Candia to 
the Venetians, who took possession of it in 1207. The other 
chiefs of the Crusaders had also their portions of the dismem- 
bered provinces. None of them, however, were to possess the 
countries that were assigned them, except under the title of vas- 
sals to the Empire, and by acknowledging the sovereignty of 
Baldwin. 

In the midst of this general overthrow, several of the Greek 
princes attempted to preserve the feeble remains of their Em- 

fire. Theodore Lascaris, son-in-law of the Emperor Alexius 
II., resolved on the conquest of the Greek provinces in Asia. 
He had made himself master of Bithynia, Lydia, part of the 
coasts of the Archipelago, and Phrygia, and was crowned Em- 
peror at Nice in 1206. About the same period, Alexius and 
David Commenus, grandsons of the Emperor Andronicus I.. 
having taken shelter in Pontus, laid there the foundation of a 
new Empire, which had for its capital the city of Trebizond. 

At length Michael Angelus Commenus took possession of 
Durazzo, which he erected into a considerable state, extending 
from Durazzo to the Gulf of Lepanto, and comprehending Epi 



I i 



PERIOD IV. A. D. 1074—1300. 163 

rus. Acamania, Etolia, and part of Thessaly. All these princes 
assumed the rank and dignity of Emperors. The most power- 
ful among them was Theodore Lascaris, Emperor of Nice. His 
successors found little difficulty in resuming, by degrees, their 
superiority over the Latin Emperors. They reduced them at 
last to the single city of Constantinople, of which Michael Pa- 
leologus, Emperor of Nice, undertook the siege; and, with the 
assistance of the Genoese vessels, he made himself master of it 
in 1261. Baldwin II., the last of the Latin Emperors, fled to 
the Isle of Negropont, whence he passed into Italy; and his 
conqueror became the ancestor of all the Emperors of the House 
of Paleologus, that reigned at Constantinople until the taking ot 
that capital by the Turks in 1453. 

It now remains for us to cast a glance at the revolutions of 
Asia, closely connected with those of Europe, on account of the 
crusades and expeditions to the Holy Land. The Empire of 
the Seljukian Turks had been divided into several dynasties or 
distinct sovereignties ; the Atabeks of Irak, and a number of 
petty princes, reigned in Syria and the neighbouring countries ; 
the Fatimite Caliphs of Egypt were masters of Jerusalem, and 
part of Palestine, when the mania of the crusades converted that 
region of the East into a theatre of carnage and devastation. 
For two hundred years Asia was seen contending with Europe, 
and the Christian nations making the most extraordinary efforts 
to maintain the conquest of Palestine and the neighbouring 
states, against the arms of the Mahometans. 

At length there arose among the Mussulmans a man of su- 
perior genius, who rendered himself formidable by his warlike 
prowess to the Christians in the East, and deprived them of the 
fruits of their numerous victories. This conqueror was the 
famous Saladin, or Salaheddin, the son of Ayoub or Job, and 
founder of the dynasty of the Ayoubites. The Atabek Noured- 
din, son of Amadoddin Zenghi, had sent him into Egypt (1168) 
to assist the Fatimite Caliph against the Franks, or Crusaders 
of the West. While there, he was declared vizier and general 
of the armies of the Caliph ; and so well had he established his 
power in that country, that he effected the substitution of the 
Abassidian Caliphs in place of the Fatimites ; and ultimately 
caused himself to be proclaimed Sultan on the death of Noured- 
din (1171,) under whom he had served in the quality of lieu- 
tenant. Having vanquished Egypt, he next subdued the 
dominions of Noureddin in Syria; and, after having extended 
his victories over this province, as well as Mesopotamia, Assyria, 
Armenia and Arabia, he turned his arms against the Christians 
in Palestine, whom he had hemmed in. as it were, with hi? 



164 CHAPTEE V. 

conquests. These princes, separated into petty sovereignties, 
divided by mutual jealousy, and a prey to the distractions of 
anarchy, soon yielded to the valour of the heroic Mussulman. 
The battle which they fought (1187,) at Hittin, near Tiberias 
(or Tabaria,) was decisive. The Christians sustained a total 
defeat ; and Guy of Lusignan, a weak prince without talents, 
and the last King of Jerusalem, fell into the hands of the con- 
queror. All the cities of Palestine opened their gates to Saladin, 
either voluntarily or at the point of the sword. Jerusalem sur- 
rendered after a siege of fourteen days. This defeat rekindled 
the zeal of the Christians in the West ; and the most powerful 
sovereigns in Europe were again seen conducting innumerable 
armies to the relief of the Holy Land. But the talents and 
bravery of Saladin rendered all their efforts unavailing ; and it 
was not till after a murderous siege for three years, that they 
succeeded in retaking the city of Ptolemais or Acre ; and thus 
arresting for a short space the total extermination of the Chris- 
tians in the East. 

On the death of Saladin, whose heroism is extolled by Chris- 
tian as well as Mahometan authors, his Empire was divided 
among his sons. Several princes, his dependants, and known 
by the name of Ayoubites, reigned afterwards in Egypt, Syria^ 
Armenia, and Yemen or Arabia the Happy. These princes 
quarrelling and making war with each other, their territories 
fell, in the thirteenth century, under the dominion of the Mame 
lukes. These Mamelukes (an Arabic word which signifies a 
slave) were Turkish or Tartar captives, whom the Syrian mer- 
chants purchased from the Moguls, and sent into Egypt under 
the reign of the Sultan Saleh, of the Ayoubite dynasty. That 
prince bought them in vast numbers, and ordered them to be 
trained to the exercise of arms in one of the maritime cities of 
Egypt.** From this school he raised them to the highest offices 
uf trust in the state, and even selected from them his own body 
guard. In a very short time, these slaves became so numerous 
and so powerful, that, in the end, they seized the government, 
after having assassinated the Sultan Touran Shah, (son and 
successor of Saleh,) who had in vain attempted to disentangle 
himself of their chains, and recover the authority which they 
had usurped over him. This revolution (1250) happened in the 
very presence of St. Louis, who, having been taken prisoner at 
the battle of Mansoura, had just concluded a truce often years 
with the Sultan of Egypt. The Mameluke Ibeg, who was at 
first appointed regent or Atabek, was soon after proclaimed Sul- 
tan of Egypt. 

The dominion of the Mamelukes existed in Egypt for the 



PERIOD V. A. D. 1300—1453. 166 

space of 263 years. Their numbers being constantly recruited 
by Turkish or Circassian slaves, they disposed of the throne of 
Egypt at their pleasure ; and the crown generally fell to the 
share of the most audacious of the gang, provided he was a na- 
tive of Turkistan. These Mamelukes had even the courage to 
attack the Moguls, and took from them the kingdoms of Damas- 
cus and Aleppo in Syria (1210,) of which the latter had dispos- 
sessed the Ayoubite princes. All the princes of this latter 
dynasty, with those of Syria and Yemen, adopted the expedient 
of submitting to the Mamelukes ; who, in order to become mas- 
ters of all Syria, had only to reduce the cities and territories 
which the Franks, or Christians of the West, still retained in 
their possession. They first attacked the principality of Antioch, 
which they soon conquered (1268.) They next turned their 
arms against the county of Tripoli, the capital of which they 
took by assault (1289.) The city of Ptolemais shared the same 
fate ; after an obstinate and murderous siege, it was carried 
sword in hand. Tyre surrendered on capitulation ; and the 
Franks were entirely expelled from Syria and the East in the 
year 1291. 



CHAPTER VI. 

PERIOD V. 

From Pope Boniface VIII. to the taking of Constantinople by 
the Turks, a. d. 1300—1453. 

At the commencement of this period, the Pontifical power 
was in the zenith of its grandeur. The Popes proudly assumed 
the title of Masters of the World ; and asserted that their author- 
ity, by divine right, comprehended every other, both spiritual 
and temporal. Boniface VIII. went even farther than his pre- 
decessors had done. According to him, the secular power was 
nothing else than a mere emanation from the ecclesiastical ; 
and this double power of the Pope was even made an article of 
belief, and founded on the sacred scriptures. " God has in- 
trusted," said he, " to St. Peter and his successors, two swords, 
the one spiritual, and the other temporal. The former can be 
exercised by the church alone ; the other, by the secular princes, 
for the service of the church, and in submission to the will of 
the Pope. This latter, that is, the temporal sword, is subordi- 
nate to the former; and all temporal authority necessarily de- 
pends on the spiritual, which judges it; whereas God alone can 
judge the spiritual power. Finally," added he, " it is absolutely 



166 CHAPTER VI. 

indispensable to salvation, that every human creature be subject 
to the Pope of Rome." ■ This same Pope published the first 
Jubilee (1300,) with plenary indulgence for all who should vibit 
the churches of St. Peter and St. Paul at Rome. An immense 
crowd from all parts of Christendom flocked to this capital of 
the Western world, and filled its treasury with their pious 
contributions.^ 

The spiritual power of the Popes, and their jurisdiction over 
the clergy, was moreover increased every day, by means of 
dispensations and appeals, which had multiplied exceedingly 
since the introduction of the Decretals of Gregory IX. They 
disposed, in the most absolute manner, of the dignities and be- 
nefices of the Church, and imposed taxes at their pleasure oa 
all the clergy in Christendom. Collectors or treasurers were 
established by them, who superintended the levying of the 
dues they had found means to exact, under a multitude of dif- 
ferent denominations. These collectors were empowered, by 
means of ecclesiastical censure, to proceed against those who 
should refuse to pay. They were supported by the authority 
of the legates who resided in the ecclesiastical provinces, and 
seized with avidity every occasion to extend the usurpation of 
the Pope. Moreover, in support of these legates appeared a 
vast number of Religious and Mendicant Orders, fo.unded in 
those ages of ignorance ; besides legions of monks dispersed 
over all the states of Christendom. 

Nothing is more remarkable than the influence of the papal 
authority over the temporalities of princes. We find them in- 
terfering in all their quarrels — addressing their commands to 
all without distinction — enjoining some to lay down their 
arms — receiving others under their protection — rescinding and 
annulling their acts and proceedings — summoning them to their 
court, and acting as arbiters in their disputes. The history of 
the Popes is the history of all Europe. They assumed the 
privilege of legitimating the sons of kings, in order to qualify 
them for the succession ; they forbade sovereigns to tax the 
clergy; they claimed a feudal superiority over all, and exer- 
cised it over a very great number ; they conferred royalty on 
those who were ambitious of power ; they released subjects 
from their oath of allegiance ; dethroned sovereigns at their 
pleasure ; and laid kingdoms and empires under interdict, to 
avenge their own quarrels. We find them disposing of the 
states of excommunicated princes, as well as those of heretics 
and their followers ; of islands and kingdoms newly discovered ; 
of the property of infidels or schismatics ; and even of Catholics 
who refused to bow before the insolent tyranny of the Popes.' 



PERIOD V. A. D. 1300—1453. 167 

Thus, it is obvious that the Court of Rome, at the time of which 
we speak, enjoyed a conspicuous preponderance in the political 
system of Europe. But in the ordinary course of human af- 
fairs, this power, vast and formidable as it was, began, from the 
fourteenth century, gradually to diminish. The mightiest em- 
pires have their appointed term ; and the highest stage of their 
elevation is often the first step of their decline. Kings, be- 
coming more and more enlightened as to their true interests, 
learned to support the rights and the majesty of their crowns, 
against the encroachments of the Popes. Those who were 
vassals and tributaries of the Holy See, gradually shook off the 
yoke ; even the clergy, who groaned under the weight of this 
spiritual despotism, joined the secular princes in repressing 
these abuses, and restraining within proper bounds a power which 
was making incessant encroachments on their just prerogatives. 

Among the causes which operated the downfall of the Pon- 
tifical power, may be ranked the excess of the power itself, 
and the abuses of it made by the Popes. By issuing too often 
their anathemas and interdicts, they rendered them useless and 
contemptible ; and by their haughty treatment of the greatest 
princes, they learned to become inflexible and boundless in their 
own pretensions. An instance of this may be recorded, in the 
famous dispute which arose between Boniface VIII. and Philip 
the Fair, King of France. Not content with constituting him- 
self judge between the King and his vassal the Count of Flan- 
ders, that Pontiff maintained, that the King could not exact 
subsidies from the clergy without his permission ; and that the 
right of Regale (or the revenues of vacant bishoprics) which 
the Crown enjoyed, was an abuse which should not be tolera- 
ted.^ He treated as a piece of insanity the prohibition of 
Philip against exporting either gold or silver out of the king- 
dom ; and sent an order to all the prelates in France to repair 
in person to Rome on the 1st of November, there to advise 
measures for correcting the King and reforming the State. He 
declared, formally, that the King was subject to the Pope, as 
*ell in temporal as spiritual matters ; and that it was a fool- 
ish persuasion to suppose that the King had no superior on 
earth, and was not dependent on the supreme Pontiff. 

Philip ordered the papal bull which contained these ex- 
travagant assertions to be burnt , he forbade his ecclesiastics to 
leave the realm ; and having twice assembled the States-Ge- 
neral of the kingdom (1302 — 3,) he adopted, with their advice 
and approbation, measures against these dangerous pretensions 
of the Court of Rome. The Three Estates, who appeared for 
the first time in these Assemblies, declared themselves strongly 



I6S 



CHAPTER VI. 



in favour of the King, and the independence of the crown. In 
consequence, the excommunication which the Pope had threat- 
ened against the King proved ineffectual. Philip made his 
appeal to a future assembly, to which the three orders of the 
State adhered.'* 

The Emperor Louis of Bavaria, a prince of superior merit, 
having incurred the censures of the Church for defending the 
rights and prerogatives of his crown, could not obtain absolu- 
tion, notwithstanding the most humiliating condescensions, and 
the offer which he made to resign the Imperial dignity, and 
surrender himself, his crown and his property, to the discretion 
of the Pope. He was loaded with curses and anathemas, after 
a series of various proceedings which had been instituted 
against him. The bull of Pope Clement VI., on this occasion, 
far surpassed all those of his predecessors. " May God (said 
he, in speaking of the Emperor) smite him with madness and 
disease ; may heaven crush him with its thunderbolts ; may 
the wrath of God, and that of St. Peter and St. Paul, fall on 
him in this world and the next ; may the whole universe com- 
bine against him ; may the earth swallow him up alive ; may 
his name perish in the first generation, and his memory disap- 
pear from the earth ; may all the elements conspire against 
him ; may his children, delivered into the hands of his enemies, 
be massacred before the eyes of their father." The indignity 
of such proceedings roused the attention of the princes and 
states of the Empire ; and on the representation of the Electo- 
ral College, they thought proper to check these boundless pre- 
tensions of the Popes, by a decree which was passed at the Diet 
of Frankfort in 1338. This decree, regarded as the fundamen- 
tal law of the Empire, declared, in substance, that the Imperial 
dignity held only of God ; that he whom the Electors had 
chosen emperor by a plurality of suffrages, was, in virtue of that 
election, a true king and emperor, and needed heither confirma- 
tion nor coronation from the hands of the Pope ; and that all 
persons who should maintain the contrary, should be treated as 
guilty of high treason. 

Among other events prejudicial to the authority of the Popes, 
one was, the translation of the Pontifical See from Rome to 
Avignon. Clement V., archbishop of Bordeaux, having been 
advanced to the papacy (1305,) instead of repairing to Rome, 
had his coronation celebrated at Lyons ; and thence he trans- 
ferred his residence to Avignon (1309,) out of complaisance 
to Philip the Fair, to whom he owed his elevation. The suc- 
cessors of this Pope continued their court at Avignon until 
1367. when Gregory XT. afjain removed the See to Rome. 



I 

1 ■ 



PERIOD V. A. D. 1300—1453. 189 

This sojourn at Avignon tended to weaken the authority of the 
Popes, and diminish the respect and veneration which till then 
had been paid them. The prevailing opinion beyond the Alps, 
admitted no other city than that of Rome for the true capital of 
St. Peter ; and they despised the Popes of Avignon as aliens, 
who, besides, were there surrounded with powerful princes, to 
whose caprice they were often obliged to yield, and to make 
condescensions prejudicial to the authority they had usurped. 
This circumstance, joined to the lapse of nearly seventy years, 
caused the residence at Avignon to be stigmatized by the Italians, 
under the name of the Babylonish Captivity. It occasioned also 
the diminution of the papal authority at Rome, and in the Ec- 
clesiastical States. The Italians, no longer restrained by the 
presence of the sovereign pontiffs, yielded but a reluctant obe- 
dience to their representatives ; while the remembrance of their 
ancient republicanism induced them to lend a docile ear to those 
who preached up insurrection and revolt. The historian Rienzi 
informs us, that one Nicolas Gabrini, a man of great eloquence, 
and whose audacity was equal to his ambition, took advantage 
of these republican propensities of the Romans, to constitute 
himself master of the city, under the popular title of Tribune 
(1347.) He projected the scheme of a new government, called 
the Good Estate., which he pretended would obtain the accepta- 
tion of all the princes and republics of Italy ; but the despotic 
power which he exercised over the citizens, whose liberator and 
lawgiver he affected to be, soon reduced him to his original in- 
significance ; and the city of Rome again assumed its ancient 
form of government. Meantime the Popes did not recover their 
former authority ; most of the cities and states of the Ecclesi- 
astical dominions, after having been long a prey to faction and 
discord, fell under the power of the nobles, who made an easy 
conquest of them ; scarcely leaving to the Pope a vestige of the 
sovereign authority. It required all the insidious policy of 
Alexander VI., and the vigilant activity of Julius II., to repair 
the injury which the territorial influence of the Pontiffs had suf- 
fered from their residence at Avignon. 

Another circumstance that contributed to humble the papal 
authority, was the schisms which rent the Church, towards the 
end of the fourteenth, and beginning of the fifteenth century. 
Gregory XI., who had abandoned Avignon for Rome, being dead 
(1378,) the Italians elected a Pope of their own nation, who 
took the name of Urban VI., and fixed his residence at Rome. 
The French cardinals, on the other hand, declared in favour of 
the Cardinal Robert of Geneva, known by the name of Clement 
VII., who fixed his capital at Avignon. The whole of Chris- 



! I 



170 CHAPTER VI. 

tendom was divided between these two Popes ; and this grand 
schism continued from 1378 till 1417. At Rome, Urban VI. 
was succeeded by Boniface IX., Innocent VII., and Gregory 
XII. ; while Clement VII. had Benedict XIII. for his successor 
at Avignon. In order to terminate this schism, every expedient 
was tried to induce the rival Popes to give in their abdication ; 
but both having refused, several of the Cardinals withdrew their 
allegiance, and assembled a council at Pisa (1409,) where the 
two refractory Popes were deposed, and the pontifical dignity 
conferred on Alexander V., who was afterwards succeeded by 
John XXIII. This election of the council only tended to in- 
crease the schism. Instead of two Popes, there arose three ; 
and if his Pisan Holiness gained partisans, the Popes of Rome 
and Avignon contrived also to maintain each a number of sup- 
porters. All these Popes, wishing to maintain their rank and 
dignity with that splendour and magnificence which their pre- 
decessors had displayed before the schism, set themselves to 
invent new means of oppressing the people ; hence the immense 
number of abuses and exactions, which subverted the discipline 
of the church, and roused the exasperated nations against the 
court of Rome. 

A new General Council Avas convoked at Constance (1414) 
by order of the Emperor Sigismund ; and it was there that the 
maxim of the unity and permanency of Councils was established, 
as well as of its superiority over the Pope, in all that pertains 
to matters of faith, to the extirpation of schism, and the refor- 
mation of the church both in its supreme head, and in its subor- 
dinate members. The grand schism was here terminated by 
the abdication of the Roman pontiff, and the deposition of those 
of Pisa and Avignon. It was this famous council that gave 
their decision against John Huss, the Reformer of Bohemia, 
and a follower of the celebrated WicklifF. His doctrines were 
condemned, and he himself burnt at Constance; as was Jerome 
of Prague, one of his most zealous partisans. As to the mea- 
sures that were taken at Constance for effecting the reformation 
of the Church, they practically ended in nothing. As their 
main object was to reform the court of Rome, by suppressing 
or limiting the new prerogatives which the Popes for several 
centuries had usurped, and which referred, among other things, 
to the subject of benefices and pecuniary exactions, all those 
who had an interest in maintaining these abuses, instantly set 
themselves to defeat the proposed amendments, and elude re- 
dress. The Council had formed a committee, composed of the 
deputies of different nations, to advise means for accomplishing 
this reformation, which the whole world so ardently desired. 



I 
i i 



PERIOD V. A. D. 1300—1453. 171 

This committee, known by the name of the College of Reformers, 
had already made considerable progress in their task, when a 
question was started, Whether it was proper to proceed to any 
reformation without the consent and co-operation of the visible 
Head of the Church ? It was carried in the negative, through the 
intrigues of the cardinals ; and, before they could accomplish 
this salutary work of reformation, the election of a new Pope 
had taken place (1417.) The choice fell on Otho de Colonna, 
who assumed the name of Martin V., and in conformity with a 
previous decision of the council, he then laid before them a 
scheme of reform. This proceeding having been disapproved 
by the different nations of Europe, the whole matter was 
remitted to the next council ; and in the meanwhile, they did 
nothing more than pass some concordats, with the new Pope, 
as to what steps they should take until the decision of the ap- 
proaching council. 

This new council, which was assembled at Basle (1431) by 
Martin V., resumed the suspended work of reformation. The 
former decrees, that a General Council was superior to the Pope, 
and could not be dissolved or prorogued except by their own 
free consent, were here renewed ; and the greater part of the 
reserves, reversions, annats, and other exactions of the Popes, 
were regularly abolished. The liberty of appeals to the Court 
of Rome, was also circumscribed. Eugenius IV., successor to 
Martin V., alarmed at the destruction thus aimed at his author- 
ity, twice proclaimed the dissolution of the Council. The first 
dissolution, which occurred on the 17th of December 1431, was 
revoked, at the urgent application of the Emperor Sigismund, 
by a bull of the same Pope, issued on the 15th of December 
1433. In this he acknowledged the validity of the Council, 
and annulled all that he had formerly done to invalidate its au- 
thority. The second dissolution took place on the 1st of Octo- 
ber 1437. Eugenius then transferred the Council to Ferrara, 
and from Ferrara to Florence, on pretext of his negotiating a 
union with the Greek church. This conduct of the Pope oc- 
casioned a new schism. The prelates who remained at Basle, 
instituted a procedure against him ; they first suspended him 
for contumacy, and finally deposed him. Amadeus VIII., Ex- 
duke of Saxony, was elected in his place, under the name ol 
Felix v., and recognised by all the partisans of the Council as 
the legitimate Pope. This latter schism lasted ten years. Fe- 
lix V. at length gave in his demission ; and the Council, which 
had withdrawn from Basle to Lausanne, terminated its sittings 
in 1449. 

The French nation adopted several of the decrees of the 



172 CHAPTER VI. 

Council of Basle \a the famous Prag-matic Sanction, which 
Charles VII. caused to be drawn up at Bourges (1438;) and 
whose stipulations served as the basis of what is called the 
Liberties of the Gallican Church. The example of the French 
was speedily followed by the Germans, who acceded to these 
decrees, at the Diet of Mayence in 1439. The Court of Rome 
at length regained a part of those honourable and lucrative rights 
of which the Council of Basle had deprived them, by the con- 
cordats which the Germans concluded (1448) with Nicholas V., 
and the French (1516) with Leo X. The Councils of which 
we have now spoken, tended materially to limit the exorbitant 
power of the Roman pontiffs, by giving sanction to the princi- 
ple which established the superiority of General Councils over 
the Popes. This maxim put a check to the enterprising ambi- 
tion of the Court of Rome ; and kings availed themselves of it 
to recover by degrees the prerogatives of their crowns. The 
Popes, moreover, sensible of their weakness, and of the need 
they had for the protection of the sovereigns, learned to treat 
them with more attention and respect. 

At length the new light which began to dawn about the four- 
teenth century, hastened on the progress of this revolution, by 
gradually dissipating the darkness of superstition into which 
the nations of Europe were almost universally sunk. In the 
midst of the distractions which agitated the Empire and the 
Church, and during the papal schism, several learned and in- 
trepid men made their appearance, who, while investigating the 
origin and abuse of the new power of the Popes, had the courage 
to revive the doctrine of the ancient canons, to enlighten the 
minds of sovereigns as to their true rights, and to examine with 
care into the justs limits of the sacerdotal authority. Among 
the first of these reformers was John of Paris, a famous Do- 
minican, who undertook the defence of Philip the Fair, King of 
France, against Pope Boniface VIII. His example was follow- 
ed by the celebrated poet Dante Alighieri, who took the part of 
the Emperor Louis of Bavaria against the Court of Rome. Mar- 
silo de Padua, John de Janduno, William Ockam, Leopold de 
Babenberg, &c. marched in the track of the Italian poet j and 
among the crowd of writers that signalized themselves after the 
grand schism, three French authors particularly distinguished 
themselves, Peter d'Ailly, Nicholas de Clemange, and John 
Gerson, whose writings met with general applause. Most of 
these literary productions, however, were characterized by bad 
taste. The philosophy of Aristotle, studied in Arabic transla- 
tions, and disfigured by scholastic subtleties, reigned in all the 
schools, imposed its fetters on the human mind, and nearly ex- 



PEHioD V. A. D, 1300—1453. 173 

tinguished every vestige of useful knowrledge. The belles lei- 
tres were quite neglected, and as yet had shed no lustre on the 
sciences. Sometimes, however, genius broke with a transient 
splendour through the darkness of this moral horizon ; and 
several extraordinary persons, despising the vain cavils of the 
schools, began to study truth in the volume of nature, and to 
copy after the beautiful models of antiquity. Such was Roger 
Bacon (1294,) an Englishman, and a Franciscan friar, who has 
become so famous by his discoveries in chemistry and mechani- 
cal philosophy. Dante (1321,) nurtured in the spirit of the an- 
cients, was the first that undertook to refine the Italian language 
into poetry, and gave it the polish of elegance and grace in 
his compositions. He was succeeded by two other celebrated 
authors, Petrarca and Boccacio (1374-5.) 

The period of which we speak gave birth to several new in- 
ventions, which proved useful auxiliaries to men of genius, and 
tended to accelerate the progress of knowledge, letters, and arts. 
Among the principal of these may be mentioned the invention 
of writing paper, oil-painting, printing, gunpowder, and the ma- 
riner's compass; to the effects of which, Europe, in a great 
measure, owes its civilization, and the new order of things 
which appeared in the fifteenth century. 

Before the invention of paper from linen, parchment was gen- 
erally used in Europe for the transcribing of books, or the draw- 
ing out of public deeds. Cotton paper, which the Arabs brought 
from the East, was but a poor remedy for the scarceness and 
dearth of parchment. It would appear, that the invention of 
paper from linen, and the custom of using it in Europe, is not 
of older date than the thirteenth century. The famous Mont- 
faucon acknowledges, that, in spite of all his researches, both in 
France and Italy, he could never find any manuscript or char- 
ter, written on our ordinary paper, older than the year 1270, 
the time when St. Louis died. The truth is, we know neither 
the exact date of the invention of this sort of paper, nor the name 
of the inventor.^ It is certain, however, that the manufacture 
of paper from cotton must have introduced that of paper from 
linen ; and the only question is, to determine at what time the 
use of linen became so common in Europe, as to lead us to sup- 
pose they might convert its rags into paper. The cultivation 
of hemp and flax being originally peculiar to the northern coun- 
tries, it is probable that the first attempts at making paper of 
linen rags were made in Germany, and the countries abounding 
in flax and hemp, rather than in the southern provinces of Eu- 
rope. The most ancient manufactory of paper from linen to be 
met with in Germany, was established at Nuremberg (1390.) 



174 CHAPTEK VI. 

The invention of oil-painting is generally ascribed to the two 
brothers Van-Eick, the younger of whom, known by the name 
of John of Bruges, had gained considerable celebrity about the 
end of the fourteenth century. There is, however, reason to 
believe that this invention is of an older date. There are two 
authors who have carried it back to the eleventh century, viz. 
Theophilus and Eraclius, whose works in manuscript have been 
preserved in the library at WolfTenbiittel, and in that of Trinity 
College, Cambridge ; and who speak of this art as already known 
in their times. According to them, all sorts of colours could be 
mixed up with linseed oil, and employed in painting; but they 
agree as to the inconvenience of applying this kind of painting 
to images or portraits, on account of the difficulty in drying 
colours mixed with oil. Admitting the credibility of these two 
authors, and the high antiquity of their works, it would appear, 
nevertheless, that they made no great use of this invention ; 
whether it may be that painters preferred to retain their for- 
mer mode, or that the difficulty of drying oil colours had dis- 
couraged them. It is, however, too true, that the finest inven- 
tions have often languished in unmerited neglect, long before 
men had learned to reap any adequate advantage from them. 
Were the Van-Eicks the first that practised this style of paint- 
ing ? Or did John of Bruges, the younger of the brothers, and 
who carried it to the highest degree of perfection, invent some 
mixture or composition for increasing the exsiccaiive qualities 
of linseed or nut oil ; especially with regard to colours not easily 
dried ? It belongs to connoisseurs and artists to examine these 
questions, as well as to decide whether the pictures, alleged to 
have been painted in oil-colours before the time of the Van- 
Eicks, were executed with any degree of perfection in that style 
of painting.^ This invention totally changed the system and 
the principles of the art of painting. It gave birth to rules as 
to light and shade, and procured modern painters one advantage 
over the ancients, that of rendering their works much more 
durable. 

One of the most important inventions is that of printing; 
which was borrowed, it would appear, from the art of engraving 
on wood ; while this latter owes its origin to the moulding or 
imprinting of common cards, which seems to have suggested the 
first idea of it. The use of cards was borrowed from Italy ; 
though we find this custom established in Germany soon after 
the commencement of the fourteenth century, where card- 
makers formed a distinct trade, about four and twenty years be- 
fore the invention of printing. It is probable that the Germans 
were the first who designed models and proper casts lor the im- 



PERIOD V. A. D. 1300—1453. 175 

pression of cards.' The desire of gain, suggested to these 
card-makers the idea of engraving on wood, after the same 
manner, all kinds of figures or scenes from Sacred Historj, 
accompanied with legends, or narratives, intended to explain 
their meaning. It was from these legends, printed in single 
folios, and published also in the form of books, or rather of im- 
pressions from engravings on solid blocks of wood, that the art 
of typography took its origin.^ This wonderful art, to which 
Europe owes its astonishing progress in the sciences, consists 
of two distinct inventions, — that of the moveable types., and that 
of the font. The former belongs to John Gutenberg, a gentle- 
man of Mayence, who made his first attempt in moveable types 
at Strasburg, in 1436 ; the other, which is generally attributed 
to Peter Schceffer of Gernsheim, took place at Mayence in 1452. 
Gutenberg resided at Strasburg, from 1424 till 1445. Being a 
noble senator of that city, he married a lady of rank ; and during 
the twenty years of his residence there, he cultivated all sorts 
of occult arts, especially that of printing. It was chiefly in re- 
ference to this latter art that he contracted an acquaintance with 
several of his wealthy fellow-citizens, one of whom, named 
Andrew Drizehn, having died, his heirs brought an action against 
Gutenberg on account of some claims which they laid to his 
charge. The magistrate ordered an inquiry to be instituted, the 
original copy of which, drawn up in 14.39, was discovered by 
Schcepflin (1745) in the archives of the city, and is still preserv- 
ed in the public library at Strasburg. According to this au- 
thentic document, it appears, that from the year 1436, there 
existed a printing-press at Strasburg, under the direction of 
Gutenburg, and in the house of Andrew Drizehn, his associate ; 
that this press consisted of forms, that were fastened or locked 
by means of screws ; and that the types, either cut or engraved, 
which were enclosed within these forms, were moveable. '•* 

Gutenburg, after his return to Mayence, still continued his 
typographical labours. While there, he contracted an acquaint- 
ance with a new associate in the exercise of his art (1445) — the 
famous John Faust, a citizen of Mayence. This second alliance 
continued only five years ; and it is within this interval, as is 
generally supposed, that the invention of the font, or casting of 
types, should be placed ; as well as that of the die and the mould 
or matrix, by the help of which the art of tj'pography was brought 
nearly to its present state of perfection. ^"^ Some disputes, which 
had arisen between these new associates, having dissolved their 
partnership, Faust obtained the press of Gutenberg, vi^ith all its 
printing apparatus, which had fallen to him by sequestration. 
Gutenberg, however fitted up another press, and continued to 



176 CHAPTER VI. 

print till the time of his death, in 1468. Not one of the books 
which issued from the press of this celebrated man, either 
at Stiasburg or Mayence, bears the name of the inventor, or the 
date of the impression ; whether it was that Gutenberg made a 
secret of his invention, or that the prejudices at the cast to which 
he belonged prevented him from boasting of his discovery. " 
Faust, on the contrary, no sooner saw himself master of Guten- 
berg's presses, than he became ambitious of notoriety, an ex- 
ample of which he gave by prefixing his name and that of Peter 
Schceffer to the famous Psalter, which they published in 1457. 

The arts of which we have just spoken, in all probability, 
suggested the idea of engraving on copper, of which we can 
discover certain traces towards the middle of the fifteenth cen- 
tury. The honour of this invention is generally ascribed to a J 1 
goldsmith of Florence, named Maso Finiguerra, who is supposed 
to have made this discovery about the year 1460, while engrav- 
ing figures on silver plate. Baccio Baldini, another Florentine, 
Andrew Montegna, and Mark Antony Raimondi, both Italians, 
followed in the steps of Finiguerra, and brought this art to a 
high degree of perfection. There is, however, some cause to 
doubt whether Finiguerra was exactly the first to whom the 
idea of this sort of engraving occurred ; since, in difl^erent cabi- 
nets in Europe, v.'e find specimens of engraving on copper, of a 
date earlier than what has been assigned to Finiguerra. If, 
however, the glory of this invention belongs in reality to the 
Italians, it is quite certain that the art of engraving on copper, 
as well as on wood, was cultivated from its infancy, and brought 
to perfection, in Germany. The first native engravers in that 
country who are known, either by their names or their signa- 
tures, in the fifteenth century, were Martin Schcen, a painter and 
engraver at Colmar, where he died in 1486 ; the two Israels 
Von Mecheln, father and son, who resided at Bockholt, in West- 
phalia; and Michael Wolgemuth of Nuremberg, the master of 
the celebrated Albert Durer, who made so conspicuous a figure 
about the end of the fifteenth and beginning of the sixteenth 
century. 

Next to the invention of printing, there is no other that so 
much arrests our attention as that of gunpowder, which, by in- 
troducing artillery, and a new method of fortifying, attacking, 
and defending cities, wrought a complete change in the whole 
art and tactics of war. This invention comprises several disco- 
veries which it is necessary to distinguish from each other. 1 
The discovery of nitre, the principal ingredient in gunpowder, 
and the cause of its detonation. 2. The mixture of nitre with 
sulphur and charcoal, which, properly speEiking, forms the in- 



PERIOD V. A. D. 1300—1453. 177 

vention of gunpowder. 3. The application of powder to fire- 
works. 4. Its employment as an agent or propelling power 
for throwing stones, bullets, or other heavy and combustible 
bodies. 5. Its employment in springing mines, and destroying 
fortifications. 

All these discoveries belong to diflTerent epochs. The know 
ledge of saltpetre or nitre, and its explosive properties, called 
detonation, is very ancient. Most probably it was brought to 
us from the East (India or China,) where saltpetre is found in a 
natural state of preparation. It is not less probable that the 
nations of the East were acquainted with the composition of 
gunpowder before the Europeans, and that it was the Arabs who 
first introduced the use of it into Europe. The celebrated Roger 
Bacon, an English monk or friar of the thirteenth century, wa3 
acquainted with the composition of powder, and its employment 
in fire-works and public festivities ; and according to all appear- 
ances, he obtained this information from the Arabic authors, 
who excelled in their skill of the chemical sciences. The em- 
ployment of gunpowder in Europe as an agent for throwing balls 
and stones, is ascertained to have been about the commencement 
of the fourteenth century ; and it was the Arabs who first avail- 
ed themselves of its advantages in their wars against the Span- 
iards. From Spain the use of gunpowder and artillery passed 
to France, and thence it gradually extended over the other 
States of Europe. As to the application of powder to mines, 
and the destruction of fortified works, it does not appear to 
have been in practice before the end of the fifteenth cen- 
tury.^- The introduction of bombs and mortars seems to have 
been of an earlier date (1467.) The invention of these in 
Europe, is attributed to Sigismund Fandolph Malatesta, Prince 
of Rimini ; but in France they were not in use till about the 
reign of Louis XIII. Muskets and matchlocks began to be in- 
troduced early in the fifteenth century. They were without 
spring-locks till 1517, when for the first time muskets and pis- 
tols with spring-locks were manufactured at Nuremberg. 

Several circumstances tended to check the progress of fire- 
arms and the improvement of artillery. Custom made most 
people prefer their ancient engines of war ; the construction of 
cannons was but imperfect j^-* the manufacture of gunpowder 
bad ; and there was a very general aversion to the newly in- 
vented arms, as contrary to humanity, and calculated to extin- 
guish military bravery. Above all, the knights, whose science 
was rendered completely useless by the introduction of fire- 
arms, set themselves with all their might to oppose this invention. 

From what we have just said it is obvious, that the common 

12 



1 i 



I 1 



178 CHAPTER VI. 

tradition which ascribes the invention of gunpowder to a certain 
monk, named Berthold Schwartz, merits no credit whatever. 
This tradition is founded on mere hearsay ; and no writers 
agree as to the name, the country, or the circumstances of this 
pretended inventor ; nor as to the time and place when he made 
this extraordinary discovery. Lastly, the mariner's compass, 
so essential to the art of navigation, was likewise the produc- 
tion of the barbarous ages to which we now refer. The ancients 
were aware of the property of the magnet to attract iron ; but 
its direction towards the pole, and the manner of communica- j \ 
ting its magnetic virtues to iron and steel, were unknown even I j 
to all those nations of antiquity who were renowned for their ! 
navigation and commerce. This discovery is usually attributed I j 
to a citizen of Amalfi, named Flavio Gioia, who is said to have ^ i 
lived about the beginning of the fourteenth century. This tra ! j 
dition, ancient though it be, cannot be admitted, because we 
have incontestable evidence that, before this period, the polarity i : 
of the loadstone and the magnetic needle were known in Europe ; 
tmd that, from the commencement of the thirteenth century, the 
Proven§al mariners made use of the compass in navigation. ^^ 

It must be confessed, however, that we can neither point out 
the original author of this valuable discovery, nor the true time 
when it was made. All that can be well ascertained is, that 
the mariner's compass was rectified by degrees ; and that the 
English had no small share in these corrections. It is to this 
polar virtue or quality of the loadstone, and the magnetic 
needle, that we owe the astonishing progress of commerce and 
navigation in Europe, from the end of the fifteenth century. 
These were already very considerable at the time of which we 
speak, although navigation was as yet confined to the Mediter- 
ranean, the Baltic, and the shores of the Indian ocean. 

The cities of Italy, the Hanseatic towns, and those of the 
Low Countries, engrossed, at that time, the principal commerce 
of Europe. The Venetians, the Genoese, and the Florentines, 
were masters of the Levant. The Genoese had more espe- 
cially the command of the Black Sea, while the Venetians laid 
claim exclusively to the commerce of India and the East, which 
they carried on through the ports of Egypt and Syria. This 
rivalry in trade embroiled these two republics in frequent dis- 
putes, and involved them in long and sanguinary wars. The 
result turned in favour of the Venetians, who found means to 
maintain the empire of the Mediterranean against the Genoese. 
The manufactories of silk, after having passed from Greece 
into Sicily, and from Sicily into the other parts of Italy, at 
length fixed their principal residence at Venice. This city 



PERIOD V. A. D. 1300—1453. 179 



I 






came at length to furnish the greater part of Europe with silk 
mercery, and the productions of Arabia and India, The Italian 1 1 
merchants, commonly known by the name of Lombards, ex- ' i 
tended their traffic through all the different states of Europe. \ j 
Favoured by the privileges and immunities which various j 
sovereigns had granted them, they soon became masters of the ; j 
commerce and the current money of every country where they ; I 
established themselves ; and, in all probability, they were the i ■ 
first that adopted the practice of Letters or Bills of Exchange, | 
of which we may discover traces towards the middle of the j 
thirteenth century. i j 

The Hanseatic League, which the maritime cities on the : j 
Baltic had formed in the thirteenth century, for the protection i 
of their commerce against pirates and brigands, gained very i i 
considerable accessions of strength in the following century, ; i 
and even became a very formidable maritime power. A great ' [ 
j number of the commercial cities of the Empire, from the Scheld 1 ! 
] and the isles of Zealand, to the confines of Livonia, entered I 
j successively into this League ; and many towns in the interior, ; 
I in order to enjoy their protection, solicited the favour of being i j 
j admitted under its flag. The first public act of a general con- i j 
i federation among these cities, was drawn up at the assembly of ! ' 
their deputies, held at Cologne, in 1364. The whole of the 1 1 
I allied towns were subdivided into quarters or circles; the most i j 
ancient of which were the Venedian quarter, containing the ' ; 
I southern and eastern coasts of the Baltic ; the Westphalian, ' ■ 
I for the towns on the western side ; and the Saxon, compre- \ \ 
bending the inland and intermediate towns. A fourth circle or 
quarter was afterwards added, that of the cities of Prussia and 
Livonia. The boundaries of these different circles and their ! • 
i capital towns varied from time to time. The general assem- ' ' 
j blies of the League were held regularly every three years, in [ i 
the city of Lubec, which was considered as the capital of the : | 
whole League ; while each of the three or four circles had also ' i 
! their particular or provincial assemblies. ' • 

i The most flourishing epoch of this League was about the ; ' 

' end of the fourteenth and the early part of the fifteenth cen- j ( 
tury. At that time, the deputies of more than fourscore cities i i 
appeared at its assemblies ; and even some towns who had not j I 
the privilege of sending deputies v/ere, nevertheless, regarded J j 
as allies of the League. Having the command of the whole j 
commerce of the Baltic, their cities exercised at their pleasure 
the rights of peace and war, and even of forming alliances. 
They equipped numerous and powerful fleets, and offered bat- 
tle to the sovereigns of the North, whenever they presumed to 



1 



!i 



I go CHAl'TKR VI. 

interfere with their monopoly, or to restrict the privileges and 
exemptions which they had the weakness to grant them. The 
productions of the North, such as hemp, flax, timber, potash, 
tar, corn, hides, furs, and copper, with the produce of the 
large and small fisheries on the coast of Schonen, Norway, 
Lapland, and Iceland,'^ formed the staple of the Hanseatic 
commerce. They exchanged these commodities, in the west- 
ern parts of Europe, for wines, fruits, drugs, and all sorts of 
cloths, which they carried back to the North in return. Their 
principal factories and warehouses, were at Bruges for Flan- 
ders, at London for England, at Novogorod for Russia, and at 
Bergen for Norway. The merchandise of Italy and the East 
was imported into Flanders, in Genoese or Venetian bottoms, 
which, at that time, carried on most of the commerce of the 
Levant and the Mediterranean. 

Extensive as the trade of the Hanseatic cities was, it proved 
neither solid nor durable. As they were themselves deficient 
in the articles of raw materials and large manufactories, and 
entirely dependent on foreign traffic, the industry of other na- 
tions, especially of thos^ skilled in the arts, had a ruinous efllect 
on their commerce; and, in course of time, turned the current 
of merchandise into other channels. Besides, the want of 
union among these cities, their factions and intestine divisions, 
and their distance from each other, prevented them from ever 
forming a territorial or colonial power, or obtaining possession 
of the Sound, which alone was able to secure them the exclu- 
sive commerce of the Baltic. The sovereigns of Europe, per- 
ceiving at length more clearly their true interests, and sensible 
of the mistake they had committed in surrendering the whole 
commerce of their kingdom to the Hanseatic merchants, used 
every means to limit and abridge their privileges more and 
more. This, in consequence, involved the confederate towns in 
several destructive wars with the Kings of the North, which 
exhausted their finances, and induced one city after another to 
abandon the League. The English and the Dutch, encouraged 
by the Danish Kings, took advantage of this favourable oppor- 
tunity to send their vessels to the Baltic ; and by degrees they 
appropriated to themselves the greater pnrt of the trade that 
had been engrossed by the Hanseatic Union. But what is of 
more importance to r^^mark, is, that this League, as well as that 
of Lombardy, having been formed in consequence of the state 
of anarchy into which the Empire had fallen in the middle 
ages, the natural result was, that it should lose its credit and its 
influence in proportion as the feudal anarchy declined, and when 
the administration of the Empire had assumed a new form, and 



PERIOD V. A. D. 1300—1453. 181 

the landed nobility, emboldened by the accessions which the 
seventeenth century had made to their power, had found means 
to compel their dependent cities to return to their allegiance, 
after having made repeated efforts to throw off their authority, 
encournged as they were bj'' the protection which the League 
held out to them. 

In this manner did the famous Hanseatic League, so formi- 
dable at the time of which we now speak, decline by degrees 
during the course of the seventeenth century, and in the early 
part of the eighteenth ; and during the Thirty Years War it be- 
came entirely extinct. The cities of Lubec, Hamburg and Bre- 
men, abandoned by all their confederates, entered into a new 
union for the interests of their commerce, and preserved the an- 
cient custom of treating in common with foreign powers, under 
the name of the Hanse Towns. 

The cities of Italy and the North were not the only ones that 
made commerce their pursuit in the fourteenth and fifteenth 
centuries. Ghent, Bruges, Antwerp, and other towns in the 
Netherlands, contributed greatly to the prosperity of trade by 
their manufactures of cloth, cotton, camlets, and tapestry ; arti- 
cles with which they supplied the greater part of Europe. The 
English exchanged their raw wool with the Belgians, for the 
finished manufactures of their looms, while the Italians furnish- 
ed them with the productions of the Levant, and the silk stuffs 
of India. Nothing is more surprising than the immense popu- 
lation of these cities, whose wealth and affluence raised their 
rulers to the rank of the most powerful princes in Europe. The 
city of Bruges was, as it were, the centre and principal reposi- 
tory for the merchandise of the North and the South. Such an 
entrepot was necessary, at a time when navigation was yet in 
its infancy. For this purpose, Flanders and Brabant were ex- 
tremely proper, as these provinces had an easy communication 
with all the principal nations of the Continent ; and as the great 
number of their manufactories, together with the abundance of 
fish which their rivers afforded, naturally attracted a vast con- 
course of foreign traders. This superiority, as the commercial 
capital of the Low Countries, Bruges retained till nearly the 
end of the fifteenth century, when it lost this preponderance, 
which was then transferred to the city of Antwerp. 

The intestine dissensions with which the cities of Flanders i 
md Brabant were agitated, the restraints which were incessant- 
ly imposed on their commerce, and the frequent wars which 
desolated the Low Countries, induced, from time to time, a great 
many Flemish operatives about the fourteenth century, and the 
reign of Edward III., to take refuge in England, where they 



I 



> i 



182 CHAPTER VI. 

established their cloth manufactories under the immediate pro- 
tection of the crown. One circumstance which more particu- 
larly contributed to the prosperity of the Dutch commerce, was 
the new method of salting and barrelling herring, which was 
discovered about the end of the fourteenth century (or 1400) by 
a man named William Beukelszoon, a native of Biervliet, near 
Sluys. The new passage of the Texel, which the sea opened 
up about the same time, proved a most favourable accident for 
the city of Amsterdam, which immediately monopolized the 
principal commerce of the fisheries, and began to be frequented 
by the Hanseatic traders. 

We now return to the history of Germany. The Imperial 
throne, always elective, was conferred, in 1308, on the princes 
of the House of Luxembourg, who occupied it till 1438, when 
the House of Hapsburg obtained the Imperial dignity. It was 
under the reign of these two dynasties that the government of 
the Empire, which till then had been vacillating and uncertain, 
began to assume a constitutional form, and a new and settled 
code of laws. That which was published at the Diet of Frank- 
fort in 1338, secured the independence of the Empire against 
the Popes. It was preceded by a League, ratified at Rense by 
the Electors, and known by the name of the General Union of 
the Electors. The Golden Bull, drawn up by the Emperor 
Charles IV. (1356,) in the Diets of Nuremberg and Metz, fixed 
the order and the form of electing the Emperors, and the cere- 
monial of their coronation. It ordained that this election should 
be determined by a majority of the suffrages of the seven Elec- 
tors — and that the vote of ihe Elector, who might happen to be 
chosen, should also be included. Moreover, to prevent those 
electoral divisions, which had more than once excited factions 
and civil wars in the Empire, this law fixed irrevocably the 
right of suffrage in the Principalities, then entitled Electorates. 
It forbade any division of these principalities, and for this end 
it introduced the principal of birthright, and the order of suc- 
cession, called agnate, or direct male line from the same father. 
Finally, the Golden Bull determined more particularly the rights 
and privileges of the electors, and confirmed to the electors of 
the Palatinate and Saxony the viceroyalty or government of the 
Empire during any interregnum. 

The eflforts which the Council of Basle made for the reforma- 
tion of the church excited the attention of the Estates of the em- 
pire. In a diet held at Mayence (1439,) they adopted several 
decrees of that council, by a solemn act drawn up in presence 
of the ambassadors of the council, and of the kings of France, 
Castille, Arragon, and Portugal. Among these adopted decrees, 



PERIOD V. A. D. 1300—1453. 183 

which were not afterwards altered, we observe those which 
establish the superiority of councils above the Popes, which 
prohibited those appeals called omisso medio, or immediate, and 
enjoined the Pope to settle all appeals referred to his court, by 
commissioners appointed by him upon the spot. Two concor- 
dats, concluded at Rome and Vienna (1447^S,) between the 
Papul court and the German nation, confirmed these stipulations. 
The latter of these concordats, however, restored to the Pope 
several of the reserves, of which the Pragmatic Sanction had 
deprived him. He was also allowed to retain the right of con- 
firming the prelates, and enjoying the annats and the alternate 
months. 

The ties which united the numerous states of the German 
empire having been relaxed by the introduction of hereditary 
feudalism, and the downfall of Imperial authority, the conse- 
quence was, that those states, which were more remote from 
the seat of authority, by degrees asserted their independence, or 
were reduced to subjection by their more powerful neighbours, 
[t was in ihis manner that several provinces of the ancient 
kingdom of Burgundy, or Aries, passed in succession to the 
crown of France. Philip the Fair, taking advantage of the dis- 
putes which had arisen between the Archbishop and the citizens 
of Lyons, obliged the Archbishop, Peter de Savoy, to surrender 
to him by treaty (1312) the sovereignty of the city and its de- 
pendencies. The same kingdom acquired the province of Dau- 
phiny, in virtue of the grant which the last Dauphin, Humbert 
II., made (1349) of his estates to Charles, grandson of Philip de 
Valois, and first Dauphin of France. Provence was likewise 
added (1481) to the dominions of that crown, by the testament 
of Charles, last Count of Provence, of the House of Anjou. 
As to the city of Avignon, it was sold (1348) by Joan I., Queen 
of Naples, and Countess of Provence, to Pope Clement VI., 
who at the san)e time obtained letters-patent from the Emperor 
Charles IV., renouncing the claims of the Empire to the sove- 
reignty of that city, as well as to all lands belonging to the Church. 

A most important revolution happened about this time in 
Switzerland. That country, formerly dependent upon the king- 
dom of Burgundy, had become an immediate province of the 
Empire (1218,) on the ex'jnction of the Dukes of Zahringen, 
who had governed it unuer the title of Regents. About the 
beo^innino- of the fourteenth century, Switzerland was divided 
into a number of petty states, both secular and ecclesiastical. 
Among these we find the Bishop of Basle, the Abbe of St. Gall, 
the Counts of Hapsburg, Toggenburg, Savoy, Gruj-^eres, Neuf- 
chatel, Werdenberg, Bucheck, &c. The towns of Zurich, So- 



184 CHAPTEK VI. 

leure, Basle, Berne, and others, had the rank of free and imperial 
cities. A part of the inhabitants of Uri, Schweitz, and Under- 
walden, who held immediatelj^ of the Empire, were governed 
by their own magistrates, under the title of Cantons. They 
were placed by the Emperor under the jurisdiction of governors, 
who exercised, in his name and that of the Empire, the power 
of the sword in all these cantons. Such was the constitution 
of Switzerland, when the Emperor Albert I. of Austria, son of 
Rodolph of Hapsburg, conceived the project of extending his 
dominion in that country, where he already had considerable 
possessions, in his capacity of Count of Hapsburg, Kyburg, 
Baden, and Lentzburg. Being desirous of forming Switzerland 
into a principality, in favour of one of his sons, he made, in 
course of time, several new acquisitions of territory, with the 
view of enlarging his estates. Ihe Abbeys of Murbach, Ein- 
siedel, Interlaken, and Disentis, and the Canons of Lucerne, sold 
him their rights and possessions in Claris, Lucerne, Schweitz, 
and Underwalden. He next directed his policy against the 
three immediate cantons of Uri, Schweitz, and Underwalden ; 
and endeavoured to make them acknowledge the superiority of 
Austria, by tolerating the oppressions which the governors exer- 
cised, whom he had appointed to rule them in the name of the 
Empire. It was under these circumstances that three intrepid in- 
dividuals, Werner de Stauffach, a native of the canton of Schweitz, 
Walter Fiirst, of Uri, and Arnold de Melchihal of Underwalden, 
took the resolution of delivering their country from the tyranny of 
a foreign yoke.^*^ The conspiracy which they formed for this pur- 
pose, broke out on the 1st of January 1308. The governors, 
surprised in their castles by the conspirators, were banished the 
country, and their castles razed to the ground. The deputies 
of the three cantons assembled, and entered into a league of ten 
years for the maintenance of their liberties and their privileges; 
reserving however to the Empire its proper rights, as also those 
claimed by the superiors, whether lay or ecclesiastical. Thus 
a conspiracy, which was originally turned only against Austria, 
terminated in withdrawing Switzerland from the sovereignty of 
the German empire. The victory which the confederates gained 
over the Austrians at Morgarten, on the borders of the canton of 
Schweitz, encouraged them to renew their league at Brunnen 
(1315;) and to render it perpetual. As it was confirmed by oath, the 
confederates, from this circumstance, got the name o^ Eidgenossen, 
which means, bourid by oath. This league became henceforth 
the basis of the federal system of the Swiss, who were not long 
in strengthening their cause by the accession of other cantons. 
The city of Lucerne, having shaken off the yoke of Hapsburg, 



PERIOD V. A. D. 1300—1453. 



185 



1 1 



joined the League of Brunnen in 1332, Zurich in 1851, Glaris 
and Zug 1353, and Berne in 1355. These formed the eight 
ancient cantons. 

The situation of the confederates, however, could not fail to 
be very embarrassing, so long as the Austrians retained the vast 
possessions which they had in the very centre of Switzerland. 
The proscription \vhich the Emperor Sigismund and the Coun- 
cil of Constance, issued against Frederic, Duke of Austria (1415,) 
as an adherent and protector of John XXIII., at length fur- 
nished the Swiss with a favourable occasion for depriving the 
house of Austria of their possessions. The Bernese were the 
first to set the example ; they took from the Austrian Dukes, 
the towns of Zoffingen, Aran, and Bruck, with the counties of 
Hapsburg and Lentzburg, and the greater part of Aargovia. Ky- 
burg fell into the hands of the Zurichers ; the Lucernese made 
themselves masters of Sursee ; and the free bailiwicks, with the 
county of Baden, the towns of Mellingen and Bremgarten, were 
subdued by the combined forces of the ancient cantons, who. 
since then, have possessed them in common. 

In the kingdom of Lorraine a new power rose about this time 
(1363,) that of the Dukes of Burgundy. Philip the Hardy, 
younger son of John the Good, King of France, having been 
created Duke of Burgundy by the King his father, married 
Margaret, daughter and heiress of Louis III., last Count of 
Flanders. By this marriage he obtained Flanders, Artois, 
Franche-Comt^, Nevers, Rethel, Malines, and Antwerp, and 
transmitted these estates to his son John the Fearless, and his 
grandson Philip the Good. This latter prince increased them 
still more by several new acquisitions. The Count of Namur 
sold him his whole patrimony, (1428.) He inherited from his 
cousin Philip of Burgundy, the dutchies of Brabant and Lim- 
bourg, (1430.) Another cousin, the famous Jaqueline de Ba- 
varia, made over to him by treaty (1433) the counties of Hainault, 
Holland, Zealand, and Friesland. Finally, he acquired also the 
dutchy of Luxembourg and the county of Chiny, by a compact 
which he made with the Princess Elizabeth (1443,) niece of the 
Emperor Sigismund. These different accessions were so much 
the more important, as the Low Countries, especially Flanders 
and Brabant, were at that time the seat of the most flourishing 
manufactories, and the principal mart of European commerce. 
Hence it happened, that the Dukes of Burgundy began to com- 
pete with the first powers in Europe, and even to rival the Kings 
of France. 

Among the principal reigning families of the Empire, several 
revolutions took place. The ancient Slavonic dynasty of the 



186 CHAPTER VI. 

Dukes and Kings of Bohemia became extinct with "Wenceslaus 
v., who was assassinated in 1306. The Emperor Henry VII., 
of the house of Luxembourg, seized this opportunity of trans- 
ferring to his own family the kingdom of Bohemia, in which he 
invested his son John (1309,) who had married the Princess 
Elizabeth, sister to the last King of Bohemia. John, having 
made considerable acquisitions in Bohemia, was induced to cede, 
by treaty with Poland, the sovereignty of that province. The 
Emperor Charles IV., son of John, incorporated Silesia, as also 
Lusatia, with the kingdom of Bohemia, by the Pragmatics 
which he published in 1355 and 1370. The war with the Hus- 
sites broke out on the death of the Emperor Wenceslaus, Kinsf 
of Bohemia (1418;) because the followers of John Huss, and 
Jerome of Prague, had refused to acknowledge, as successor of 
that prince, the Emperor Sigismund, his brother and heir, whom 
they blamed for the martyrdom of their leaders. This war, 
one of the most sanguinary which the spirit of intolerance and 
fanaticism ever excited, continued for a long series of years, 
John de Trocznova, surnamed Ziska, general-in-chief of the 
Hussites, defeated several times those numerous armies of cru- 
saders, which were sent against him into Bohemia ; and it was 
not till long after the death of that extraordinary man, that Si- 
gismund succeeded in allaying the tempest, and re-establishing 
his own authority in that kingdom. 

The house of Wittelsbach, which possessed at the same time 
the Palatinate and Bavaria, was divided into two principal 
branches, viz. that of the Electors Palatine, and the Dukes of 
Bavaria. By the treaty of division, which was entered into at 
Pavia (1329,) they agreed on a reciprocal succession of the two 
branches, in case the one or the other should happen to fail of 
heirs-male. The direct line of the Electors of Saxony of the 
Ascanian House happening to become extinct, the Emperor 
Sigismund, without paying any regard to the claims of the 
younger branches of Saxony, conferred that Electorate (1423,) 
as a vacant fief of the Empire, on Frederic the Warlike, Mar- 
grave of Misnia, who had rendered him signal assistance in the 
war against the Hussites. This Prince had two grandsons, 
Ernest and Albert, from whom are descended the two principal 
branches, which still divide the House of Saxony, 

The Ascanian dynasty did not lose merely the Electorate of 
Saxony, as we have just stated ; it was also deprived, in the 
preceding century, of the Electorate of Brandenburg. Albert, 
surnamed the Bear, a scion of this house, had transmitted this 
latter Electorate, of which he was the founder, to his descend- 
ants in direct line, the male heirs of which failed about the be- 



PERIOD V, A. D. 1300—1453. 187 

afinning of the fourteenth century. The Emperor Louis of 
Bavaria then bestowed it on his eldest son Louis (1324,) to the 
exclusion of the collateral branches of Saxony and Anhalt. The 
Bavarian Princes, however, did not long preserve this Electo- 
rate ; they surrendered it (1373) to the Emperor Charles IV., 
whose son Sigismund ceded it to Frederic, Burgrave of Nu- 
remberg, of the House of Hohenzollern, who had advanced him 
considerable sums to defray his expeditions into Hungary. This 
Prince was solemnly invested with the electoral dignity by the 
Emperor, at the Council of Constance (1417,) and became the 
ancestor of all the Electors and Margraves of Brandenburg, as 
well as of the Kings of Prussia. 

The numerous republics which had sprung up in Italy, in the 
twelfth and thirteenth centuries, were torn to pieces by contend- 
ing factions, and a prey to mutual and incessant hostilities. 
What contributed to augment the trouble and confusion in that 
unhappy country was, that, during a long series of years, no 
Emperor had repaired thither in person, or made the smallest 
attempt to restore the Imperial authority in those states. The 
feeble efforts of Henry VII., Louis of Bavaria, ami Charles IV., 
only served to prove, that in Italy the royal prerogative was 
without vigour or effect. Anarchy every where prevailed ; and I 
that spirit of liberty and republicanism which had once anima- | 
ted the Italians gradually disappeared. Disgusted at length ! 
with privileges which had become so fatal to them, some of these j 
republics adopted the plan of choosing new masters ; while i 
others were subjected, against their inclinations, by the more | 
powerful of the nobles. The Marquises of Este seized Modena | 
and Reggio (133G,) and obtained the ducal dignity (1452) from | 
the Emperor Frederic III. Mantua fell to the house of Gonza- 
ga, who possessed that sovereignty first under the title of Mar- 
graves, and afterwards under that of Dukes, which was confer- 
red on them by the Emperor Charles V. in 1530. But the 
greater part of these Italian republics fell to the share of the 
Visconti of Milan. The person who founded the prosperity of | 
their house was Matthew Visconti, nephew of Otho Visconti, j 
Archbishop of Milan. Invested with the titles of Captain and j 
Imperial Viceroy in Lombardy, he continued to make himself 
acknowledged as sovereign of Milan (1315,) and conquered in j 
succession all the principal towns and republics of Lombardy. j 
His successors followed his example : they enlarged their terri- 
tories by several new conquests, till at length John Galeas, great 
grandson of Matthew Visconti, obtained, from the Emperor Wen- 
ceslaus (1395,) for a sum of a hundred thousand florins of gold 
which he paid him, the title of Duke of Milan for himself and 



i88 



CHAPTER VI. 



all his descendants. The Visconti family reigned at Milan till 
1447, when they were replaced by that of Sforza. 

Among the republics of Italy who escaped the catastrophe of 
the fourteenth century, the most conspicuous were those of 
Florence, Genoa and Venice. The city of Florence, like all 
the others in Tuscany, formed itself into a republic about the 
end of the twelfth century. Its government underwent frequent 
changes, after the introduction of a democracy about the middle 
of the thirteenth century. The various factions which had agi- 
tated the republic, induced the Florentines to elect a magistrate 
(1292,) called Gonfaloniere de Justice, or Captain of Justice; 
invested with power to assemble the inhabitants under his stand- 
ard, whenever the means for conciliation were insufficient to 
suppress faction and restore peace. These internal agitations, 
however, did not prevent the Florentines from enriching them- 
selves by means of their commerce and manufactures. They 
succeeded, in course of time, in subjecting the greater part of 
the free cities of Tuscany, and especially that of Pisa, which 
they conquered in 1406. The republic of Lucca was the only 
one that maintained its independence, in spite of all the efforts 
which the Florentines made to subdue it. The republican form 
of government continued in Florence till the year 1530, when 
the family of the Medici usurped the sovereignty, under the 
protection of the Emperor Charles V. 

The same rivalry which had set the Genoese to quarrel with 
the Pisans, excited their jealousy against the Venetians. The 
interests of these two Republics thwarted each other, both in the 
Levant and the Mediterranean. This gave rise to a long and 
disastrous series of wars, the last and most memorable of which 
was that of Chioggia (1376-82.) The Genoese, after a signal 
victory which they obtained over the Venetians, before Pola in 
the Adriatic Gulf, penetrated to the very midst of the lagoons 
of Venice, and attacked the port of Chioggia. Peter Doria made 
himself master of this port ; he would have even surprised Ve- 
nice, had he taken advantage of the first consternation of the 
Venetians, who were already deliberating whether they should 
abandon their city and take refuge in the isle of Candia. The 
tardiness of the Genoese admiral gave them time to recover 
themselves. Impelled by a noble despair, they made extraordi- 
nary efforts to equip a new fleet, with which they attacked the 
Genoese near Chioggia. This place was retaken (24th June 
1380,) and the severe check which the Genoese there received, 
may be said to have decided the command of the sea in favour 
of the Venetians. But what contributed still more to the down- 
fall of the Genoese, was the instability of their government, and 



PERIOD V. A.D. 1300—1453. 189 

the internal commotions of the republic. Agitated by continual 
I divisions between the nobles and the common citizens, and in- 
I capable of managing their own affairs, they at length surrender- 
ed themselves to the power of strangers. Volatile and incon- 
I stant, and equally impatient of liberty as of servitude, these 
j fickle republicans underwent a frequent change of masters. 
I Twice (1396-1458) they put themselves under the protection of 
I the Kings of France. At length they discarded the French, 
I and chose for their protector either the Marquis of Montferrat 
I or the Duke of Milan. Finally, from the year 1464, the city of 
i Genoa was constantly regarded as a dependency of the dutchy 
I of Milan, until 1528, when it recovered once more its ancient 
j state of independence. 

I While the Republic of Genoa was gradually declining, that 
1 of Venice was every day acquiring new accessions of power. 
I The numerous establishments which they had formed in the 
I Adriatic Gulf and the Eastern Seas, together with the additional 
I vigour which they derived from the introduction of the heredi- 
j tary aristocracy, were highly advantageous to the progress of 
j their commerce and marine. The treaty which they concluded 
j with the Sultan of Egypt (1343,) by guaranteeing to their re- 
public an entire liberty of commerce in the ports of Syria and 
I Egypt, as also the privilege of having consuls at Alexandria and 
j Damascus, put it in their power gradually to appropriate to 
themselves the whole trade of India, and to maintain it against 
I the Genoese, who had disputed with them the commerce of the 
j East, as well as the command of the sea. These successes en- 
couraged the Venetians to make new acquisitions ; the turbu- 
! lent state of Lombardy having afforded them an opportunity of 
i enlarging their dominions on the continent of Italy, where at 
i first they had possessed only the single dogeship of Venice, and 
I the small province of Istria. They seized on Treviso, and the 
whole Trevisan March (1388,) which they took from the pow- 
{ erful house of Carrara. In 1420 they again got possession of 
Dalmatia, which they conquered from Sigismund, King of Hun- 
gary. This conquest paved the way for that of Friuli, which 
they took about the same time from the Patriarch of Aquileia, 
an ally of the King of Hungary. At length, by a succession of 
good fortune, they detached from the dutchy of Milan (1404) 
the cities and territories of Vicenza, Belluno, Verona, Padua, 
Brescia, Bergamo, and Cremona (1454,) and thus formed a con- 
siderable estate on the mainland. 

Naples, during the course of this period, was governed by a 
descendant of Charles, of the first House of Anjou, and younger 
brother of St. Louis. Queen Joan I., daughter of Robert, King 



i I 



! ! 



190 



CHAPTER VI. 



of Naples, having no children of her own, adopteo a younger 
prince of the Angevine family, Charles of Dnrazzo, whom she 
destined as her successor, after having given hitn her niece in 
marriage. This ungrateful prince, in his eagerness to possess 
the crown, took arms against the Queen his benefactress, and 
compelled her to solicit the aid of foreign powers. It was on this 
occasion that Joan, after rescinding and annulling her former 
deed of adoption, made another in favour of Louis I., younger 
brother of Charles V., King of France, and founder of the second 
House of Anjou. But the succours of that prince came too late 
to save the Queen from the hands of her cruel enemy. Charles 
having made himself master of Naples and of the Queen's per- 
son (1382,) immediately put her to death, and maintained him- 
self on the throne, in spite of his adversary Louis of Anjou, who 
obtained nothing more of the Queen's estates than the single 
county of Provence, which he transmitted to his descendants, 
together with his claim on the kingdom of Naples. Joan IL, 
daughter and heiress of Charles of Durazzo, having been at- 
tacked by Louis in. of Anjou, who wished to enforce the rights 
of adoption which had descended to him from his grandfather 
Louis I., she implored the protection of Alphonso V., King of 
Arragon, whom she adopted and declared her heir (14*21 ;) but 
afterwards, having quarrelled with that prince, she changed her 
resolution, and passed a new act of adoption (1423) in favour of 
that same Louis of Anjou who had just made war against her 
Rene of Anjou, the brother and successor of that prince, took 
possession of the kingdom of Naples on the death of Joan II. 
(1435;) but he was expelled by the King of Arragon (1445,) 
who had procured from Pope Eugenius IV. the investiture of 
that kingdom, which he transmitted to his natural son Ferdi- 
nand, descended from a particular branch of the Kings of Na- 
ples. The rights of the second race of Angevine princes, were 
transferred to the Kings of France, along with the county oi 
Provence (1481.) 

Spain, which was divided into a variety of sovereignties both 
Christian and Mahometan, presented at this time a kind of sepa- 
rate or distinct continent, whose interests had almost nothing in 
common with the rest of Europe. The Kings of Nairarre, Cas- 
tille, and Arragon, disagreeing among themselves, and occupied 
with the internal affiiirs of their own kingdoms, had but little 
leisure to attempt or accomplish any foreign enterprise. Of ail 
the Kings of Castille at this period, the most famous, in the 
wars against the Moors, was Alphonso XI. The Mahometan 
kings of Morocco and Grenada having uniied their forces, laid 
siege to the city of Tariffa in Andalusia, where Alphonso, as- 



PERIOD V. A. D. 1300—1453. 191 

sisted by the King of Portugal, ventured to attack them in the 
neighbourhood of that place. He gained a complete victory over 
the Moors (1340 ;) and this was followed by the conquest ot 
various other cities and districts; among others, Alcala-Real. 
and Algeziras. 

While the Kings of Castille were extending their conquests 
in the interior of Spain, those of Arragon, hemmed in by the 
Castillians, were obliged to look for aggrandizement abroad. 
They possessed the country of Barcelona or Catalonia, in virtue 
of the marriage of Count Raymond Berenger IV. with Donna 
Petronilla, heiress of the kingdom of Arragon. To this they 
added the county of Rousillon, and the seignory or lordship of 
Montpelier, both of which, as well as Catalonia, belonged to the 
sovereignty of France. Don James I., who conquered the king- 
dom of Valencia and the Balearic Isles, gave these, with Rou- 
sillon and Montpelier, to Don James his younger son, and from 
whom were descended the Kings of Majorca, tlie last of whom, 
Don James III., sold Montpelier to France (1349.) Don Pedro 
III., King of Arragon, and eldest son of Don James I., took 
Sicily, as we have already seen, from Charles I. of Anjou. 
Ferdinand II., a younger son of Don Pedro, formed a separate 
branch of the kings of Sicily, on the extinction of which (1409,) 
that kingdom reverted to the crown of Arragon. Sardinia was 
incorporated with the kingdom of Arragon by Don James II., 
who had conquered it from the Pisans. Finally, Alphonso V., 
King of Arragon, having deprived the Angevines of the king- 
dom of Naples, established a distinct line of Neapolitan kings. 
This kingdom was at length united with the monarchy of Arra- 
gon by Ferdinand the Catholic. 

In Portugal, the legitimate line of kings, descendants of 
Henry of Burgundy, had failed in Don Ferdinand, son and suc- 
cessor of Don Pedro III. This prince had an only daughter 
named Beatrix, born in criminal intercourse with Eleanora 
Tellez de Meneses, whom he had taken from her lawful hus- 
band. Being desirous to make this princess his successor, he 
married her, at the age of eleven, to John I., King of Castille : 
securing the throne to the son who should be born of this union, 
and failing him, to the King of Castille, his son-in-law. Fer- 
dmand dying soon after this marriage, Don Juan, his natural 
brother, and grand-master of the order of Aviez, knowing the 
aversion of the Portuguese for the Castillian sway, turned this 
to his own advantage, by seizing the regency, of which he had 
deprived the Queen-dowager. The King of Castille imme- 
diately laid siege to Lisbon ; but having miscarried in this en- 
terprise, the States of Portugal assembled at Coimbra, and 



192 



CHAPTER VI. 



conferred the crown on Don Juan, knoAvn in history by the 
name o{ John the Bastard. This prince, aided with troops from 
England, engaged the Castillians and their allies the French, 
at the famous battle fought on the plains of Aljuharota (14th 
Auo-ust 1385.) The Portuguese remained masters of the field, 
and John the Bastard succeeded in maintaining himself on the 
throne of Portugal. The war, however, continued several 
years between the Portuguese and the Castillians, and did not 
terminate till 1411. By the peace which was then concluded, 
Henry III., son of John I., King of Castille, agreed never to 
urge the claims of Queen Beatrix, his mother-in-law, who had 
no children. John the Bastard founded a new dynasty of kings, 
who occupied the throne of Portugal from 1385 to 1580. 

In France, the direct line of kings, descendants of Hugh 
Capet, having become extinct in the sons of Philip the Fair, 
the crown passed to the collateral branch of Valois (1328,) 
which furnished a series of thirteen kings, during a period ol 
two hundred and sixty-one years. 

The rivalry between France and England, which had sprung 
up during the preceding period, assumed a more hostile charac- 
ter on the accession of the family of Valois. Till then, the 
quarrels of the two nations had been limited to some particular 
territory, or province ; but now they disputed even the succes- 
sion to the throne of France, which the kings of England claimed 
as their right. Edward III., by his mother, Isabella of Franco, 
was nephew to Charles IV., the last of the Capetian kings in a 
direct line. He claimed the succession in opposition to Philip 
VI., surnamed de Valois, who being cousin-german to Charles, 
was one degree more remote than the King of England. The 
claim of Edward was opposed by the Salic law, which excluded 
females from the succession to the throne ; but, according to the 
interpretation of that prince, the law admitted his right, and 
must be understood as referring to females personally, who 
were excluded on account of the weakness of their sex, and 
not to their male descendants. Granting that his mother, Isa- 
bella, could not herself aspire to the crown, he maintained that 
she gave him the right of proximity, which qualified him for 
the succession. The States of France, however, having de- 
cided in favour of Philip, the King of England did fealty and 
homage to that prince for the dutchy of Guienne ; but he laid 
no claim to the crown until 1337, when he assumed the title 
and arms of the King of France. The war which began in 
1338, was renewed during several reigns, for the space of a 
hundred years, and ended with the entire expulsion of the Eng- 
lish from France. 



|L. 



ji 



PERIOD V. A. D. 1300—1453. 193 

Nothing could be more wretched than the situation of this 
kingdom during the reign of Charles VI That prince having 
fallen into a state of insanity in the flower of his age, two par- 
ties, those of Burgundy and Orleans, who had disputed with 
each other abcut the regency, divided the Court into factions, 
and kindled the flames of civil war in the four corners of the 
kingdom. John the Fearless, Duke of Burgundy, and uncle 
to the king, caused Louis, Duke of Orleans, the King's own 
brother, to be assassinated at Paris (1407.) He himself was 
assassinated in his turn (1419) on the bridge of Montereau, 
in the very presence of the Dauphin, who was afterwards king, 
under the name of Charles VII. These dissensions gave the 
English an opportunity for renewing the war. Henry the V. 
of England gained the famous battle of Agincourt, which was 
followed by the conquest of all Normandy. Isabella of Ba- 
varia then abandoned the faction of Orleans, and the party of 
her son the Dauphin, and joined that of Burgundy. Philip 
the Good, Duke of Burgundy, and son of John the Fearless, 
being determined to revenge the death of his father, which he 
laid to the charge of the Dauphin, entered into a negotiation 
with England, into which he contrived to draw Queen Isabella, 
and the imbecile Charles the VI. By the treaty of peace con- 
cluded at Troyes in Champagne (1420,) it was agreed that 
Catharine of France, daughter of Charles VI. and Isabella of 
Bavaria, should espouse Henry V., and that, on the death of 
the King, the crown should pass to Henry, and the children of 
his marriage with the Princess of France ; to the exclusion of 
the Dauphin, who, as an accomplice in the murder of the Duke 
of Burgundy, was declared to have lost his rights to the crown, 
and was banished from the kingdom. Henry V. died in the 
flower of his age, and his death was followed soon after by that 
of Charles VI. Henry VI., son of Henry V. and Catharine of 
France, being then proclaimed King of England and France, 
fixed his residence at Paris, and had for his regents his two 
uncles, the Dukes of Bedford and Gloucester. 

Such was the preponderance of the English and Burgundian 
party in Fiance at this period, that Charles VII., commonly 
called the Dauphin, more than once saw himself upon the 
point of being expelled the kingdom. He owed his safety en- 
tirely to the appearance of the famous Joan of Arc, called the 
Maid of Orleans. This extraordinary woman revived tho 
drooping courage of the French. She compelled the English 
to raise the siege of Orleans, and brought the King to be 
crowned at Rheims (1429.) But what contributed still more to 
retrieve the party of Charles VII., was the reconciliation of that 

13 



194 CHAPTER VI. 

prince with the Duke of Burgundy, which took place at the 
peace of Arras (1435.) The Duke having then united his 
forces with those of the King, the Enghsh were in their turn 
expelled from France (1453,) the single city of Calais being all 
that remained to them of their former conquests. 

An important revolution happened in the government of 
France under the reign of Charles VII. The royal authority 
gained fresh vigour by the expulsion of the English, and the 
reconciliation of various parties that took place in consequence. 
The feudal system, which till then had prevailed in France, fell 
by degrees into disuse. Charles was the first king who estab- 
lished a permanent militia, and taught his successors to abandon 
the feudal mode of warfare. This prince also instituted Com- 
panies of ordonance (1445 ;) and, to defray the expense of their 
maintenance, he ordered, of his own authority, a certain impost 
to be levied, called the Tax of the Gens-d'armes. This stand- 
ing army, which at first amounted only to six thousand men, 
was augmented in course of time, while the royal finances 
increased in proportion. By means of these establishments, 
the kings obtained such an ascendancy over their vassals that 
they soon found themselves in a condition to prescribe laws to 
them, and thus gradually to abolish the feudal system. The 
most powerful of the nobles could make little resistance against 
a sovereign who was always armed ; while the kings, imposing 
taxes at their pleasure, by degrees dispensed with the necessity 
of assembling the states-general. The same prince secured the 
liberties of the Galilean church against the encroachments of 
the Court of Rome, by solemnly adopting several of the decrees 
of the Council of Basle, which he caused to be passed in the 
National Council held at Bourges, and published under the title 
of the Pragmatic Sanction (1438.) 

In England, two branches of the reigning family of the Plan- 
tagenets, those of Lancaster and York, contested for a long 
time the right to the crown. Henry IV., the first king of the 
House of Lancaster, was the son of John of Gaunt, Duke of 
Lancaster, and grandson of Edward III. King of England. He 
usurped the crown from Richard II., whom he deposed by act 
of Parliament (1399.) But instead of enforcing the rights 
which he inherited from his father and grandfather, he rested 
his claims entirely upon those which he alleged had devolved 
to him in right of his mother, Blanch of Lancaster, great grand- 
daughter of Edward, surnamed Hunchback, Earl of Lancaster. 
This prince, according to a popular tradition, was the eldest son 
of Henry III., who, it was said, had been excluded from the 
throne by his younger brother Edward I., on account of his de 



PERIOD V. A. D. 1300 1453. 



19d 



formity. This tradition proved useful to Henry IV. in excluding 
the rights of the House of Clarence, who preceded him in the 
order of succession. This latter family was descended from 
Lionel, Duke of Clarence, and elder brother of John of Gaunt. 
Philippine, daughter of Lionel, v/as married to Edward Morti- 
mer, by whom she had a son, Roger, whom the Parliament, by 
an act passed in 1386, declared presumptive heir to the crown. 
Ann Mortimer, the daughter of Roger, married Richard, Duke of 
York, son of Edward Langley, who was the younger brother 
of John of Gaunt, and thus transferred the right of Lionel to 
the Royal House of York. 

The Princes of the House of Lancaster are known in Eng- 
lish history by the name of the Red Rose, while those of York 
were designated by that of the White Rose. The former of 
these Houses occupied the throne for a period of sixty-three 
years, during the reigns of Henry IV., V., VI. It was under 
the feeble reign of Henry VI. that the House of York began to 
advance their right to the crown, and that the civil war broke 
out between the two Roses. Richard, Duke of York, and heir 
to the claims of Lionel and Mortimer, was the first to raise the 
standard in this war of competition (1452,) which continued 
more than thirty years, and was one of the most cruel and san- 
guinary recorded in history. Twelve pitched battles were 
fought between the two Roses, eighty princes of the blood pe- 
rished in the contest, and England, during the whole time, pre- 
sented a tragical spectacle of horror and carnage. Edward IV., 
son of Richard, Duke of York, and grandson of Ann Mortimer, 
ascended the throne (1461,) which he had stained with the blood 
of Henry IV., and of several other Princes of the House of 
Lancaster. 

In Scotland, the male line of the ancient kings having become 
extinct in Alexander III., a crowd of claimants appeared on the 
field, who disputed with each other the succession of the throne. 
The chief of these competitors were the two Scottish families 
of Baliol and Bruce, both descended by the mother's side from 
the Royal Family. Four princes of these contending families 
reigned in Scotland until the year 1371, when the crown passed 
from the House of Bruce to that of Stuart. Robert II., son ot 
Walter Stuart and Marjory Bruce, succeeded his uncle David 
II., and in his family the throne remained until the Union, when 
Scotland was united to England about the beginning of the 
seventeenth century. Under the government of the Ptuaris, 
the royal authority acquired fresh energy after being long re- 
strained and circumscribed by a turbulent nobility. Towards 
the middle of the fifteenth century, James I., a very accomplished 



I ! 



196 CHAPTER VI. 

prince, gave the first blow to the feudal system and the exorb'- 
tant power of the grandees. He deprived them of several 0/ 
the crown-lands which they had usurped, and confiscated the 
property of some of the most audacious whom he had con- 
demned to execution. James II. followed the example of his 
father. He strengthened the royal authority, by humbling the 
powerful family of Douglas, as well as by the wise laws which 
he prevailed with his Parliament to adopt. 

The three kingdoms of the North, after having been long 
agitated by internal dissensions, were at length united into a 
single monarchy by Margaret, called the Semiramis of the North. 
This princess was daughter of Valdemar III., the last King of 
Denmark of the ancient reigning family, and widow of Haco 
VII., King of Norway. Shef was first elected Queen of Den- 
mark, and then of Norw-ay, after the death of her son, Olaus 
v., whom she had by her marriage with Haco, and who died 
without leaving any posterity (13S7.) The Swedes, discon- 
tented with their King, Albert of Mecklenburg, likewise be- 
stowed their crown upon this princess. Albert was vanquished 
and made prisoner at the battle of Fahlekoeping (1389.) The 
whole of Sweden, from that time, acknowledged the authority 
of Queen Margaret. Being desirous of uniting the three king- 
doms into one single body-politic, she assembled their respective 
Estates at Calmar (1397,) and there caused her grand-nephew 
Eric, son of Wratislaus, Duke of Pomerania, and Mary of 
Mecklenburg, daughter of Ingeburg, her own sister, to be re- 
ceived and crowned as her successor. The act which ratified 
the perpetual and irrevocable union of the three kingdoms, was 
approved in that assembly. It provided, that the united states 
should, in future, have but one and the same king, who should 
be chosen with the common consent of the Senators and Depu- 
ties of the three kingdoms; that they should always give the 
preference to the descendants of Eric, if there were any ; that 
the three kingdoms should assist each other with their combined 
forces against all foreign enemies ; that each kingdom should 
preserve its own constitution, its senate, and national legisla- 
ture, and be governed conformably to its own laws. 

This union, how formidable soever it might appear at first 
sight, was by no means firmly consolidated. A federal system 
of ^j^ree rnonarchies, divided by mutual jealousies, and by dis- 
similarity in their laws, manners, and institutions, could present 
nothinj either ^lid or durable. The predilection, besides, 
which the kings of the union who succeeded Margaret showed 
for the Danes ; the preference which they gave them in the 
distribution of favours and places of trust, and the tone of su 



PERIOD -v. A. D. 1300—1453. 197 

perioriiy which they affected towards their allies, tended natu- 
rally to foster animosity and hatred, and, above all, to exasperate 
the Swedes against the union. Eric, after a very turbulent 
reign, was deposed, and his nephew, Christopher the Bavarian, 
was elected King of the union in his place. This latter prince 
having died without issue, the Swedes took this opportunity oi 
breaking the union, and ch-^osing a king of their own, Charles 
Canutson Bonde, known by the title of Charles VIII. It was 
he who induced the Danes to venture likewise on a new elec- 
tion ; and this same year they transferred their crown to Chris- 
tian, son of Thierry, and Count of Oldenburg, descended by 
the female side from the race of their ancient kings. This 
prince had the good fortune t£) renew the union with Norway 
(1450;) he likewise governed Sweden from the year 1437; 
when Charles VIII. was expelled by his subjects, till 1464 
when he was recalled. But what deserves more particularly 
to be remarked, is the acquisition which Christian made of the 
provinces of Sleswick and Holstein, to which he succeeded 
(1459,) by a disposition of the States of these provinces, after 
the death of Duke Adolphus, the maternal uncle of the new 
King of Denmark, and last male heir of the Counts of Hol- 
stein, of the ancient House of Schauenburg. Christian I. was 
the progenitor of all the Kings who have since reigned in Den- 
mark and Norway. His grandson lost Sweden ; but, in the 
last century, the thrones both of Russia and Sweden were 
occupied by princes of his family. 

Russia, during the whole of this period, groaned under the 
degrading yoke of the Moguls and the Tartars. The Grand 
Dukes, as well as the other Russian princes, were obliged to 
solicit the confirmation of their dignity from the Khan of Kip- 
zack, who granted or refused it at his pleasure. The dissen- 
sions which arose among these northern princes, were in like 
manner submitted to his decision. When summoned to appear at 
his horde, they were obliged to repair thither without delay, and 
often suffered the punishment of ignominy and death. ^^ The 
contributions which the Khans at first exacted from the Rus- 
sians in the shape of gratuitous donations, were converted, in 
course of time, into regular tribute. Bereke Khan, the suc- 
cessor of Batou, was the first who levied this tribute by officers 
of his own nation. His successors increased still more the 
load of these taxes ; they even subjected the Russian princes 
to the performance of military service. 

The Grand Ducal dignity, w^hich for a long time belonged 
exclusively to the chiefs of the principalities of Vladimir and 
Kiaso, became common, about the end of the fourteenth ceu 



]98 



CHAPTER VI. 



il 



tury, to several of the other principalities, who shared among 
them the dominion of Russia. The princes of Rezan, Twer, 
Smolensko, and several others, took the title of Grand Dukes, 
10 distinguish themselves from the petty princes who were es- 
tablished within their principalities. These divisions, together 
with the internal broils to which they gave rise, emboldened 
the Lithuanians and Poles to carry their victorious arms into 
Russia ; and by degrees they dismembered the whole western 
part of the ancient empire. 

The Lithuanians,^^ who are supposed to have been of the 
same race with the ancient Prussians, Lethonians, Livonians, 
and Esthonians, inhabited originally the banks of the rivers 
Niemen and Wilia ; an inconsiderable state, comprehending 
Samogitia and a part of the ancient Palatinates of Troki and 
Wilna. After having been tributaries to the Russians for a 
long time, the princes of Lithuania shook off their yoke, and 
began to aggrandize themselves at the expense of the Grand 
Dukes, their former masters. Towards the middle of the 
eleventh century, they passed the Wilia, founded the town ofKier- 
now, and took from the Russians Braclaw, Novgorodek, Grodno, 
Borzesc, Bielsk, Pinsk, Mozyr, Polotsk, Minsk, Witepsk, Orza, 
and Mscislaw, with their extensive dependencies. Ringold 
was the first of these princes that assumed the dignity of Grand 
Duke, about the middle of the thirteenth century. His succes- 
sor Mendog or Mindow, harassed by the Teutonic Knights, em- 
braced Christianity about the year 1252, and was declared King 
of Lithuania by the Pope ; though he afterwards returned to 
Paganism, and became one of the most cruel enemies of the 
Christian name. Gedimin, who ascended the throne of the 
Grand Duke (1315,) rendered himself famous by his new con- 
quests. After a series of victories which he gained over the 
Russian Princes, who were supported by the Tartars, he took 
possession of the city and Principality of Kiow^ (1320.) The 
whole of the Grand Dutchy of Kiow, and its dependent princi- 
palities on this side the Dnieper, were conquered in succession. 
The Grand Dukes of Lithuania, who had become formidable to 
all their neighbours, weakened their power by partitioning tneir 
estates among their sons ; reserving to one, under the title of 
Grand Duke, the right of superiority over the rest. The civil 
dissensions which resulted from these divisions, gave the Poles 
an opportunity of seizing the principalities of Leopold, Przemysl, 
and Haliisch (1340,) and of taking from the Lithuanians and 
their Grand Duke Olgerd, the whole of Volhynia and Podolia, 
of which they had deprived the Russians (1349.) 

Nothing more then remained of the ancient Russian Empire 



PERIOD V. A. D. 1300 1453. 



199 



except the Grand Dutchy of Wolodimir, so called from the town 
of that name on the river Kliazma, where the Grand Dukes of 
Eastern and Northern Russia had their residence, before they 
had fixed their capital at Moscow; which happened about the 
end of the thirteenth or the beginning of the fourteenth century. 
This Grand Dutchy, which had several dependent and subor- 
dinate principalities, was conferred by the Khan of Kipzach 
(1320) on Iwan or John Danilovitsh, Prince of Moscow, who 
transmitted it to his descendants. Demetrius Iwanovitsh, grand- 
son of Iwan, took advantage of the turbulence which distracted 
the grand horde, and turned his arms against the Tartars. As- 
sisted by several of the Russian princes his vassals, he gained 
a signal victory near the Don (1380,) over the Khan Temnic- 
Mamai, the first which gained the Russians any celebrity, and 
which procured Demetrius the proud epithet of Donski, or con- 
queror of the Don. This prince, however, gained little advan- 
tage by his victory ; and for a long time after, the Tartars gave 
law to the Russians and made them their tributaries. Toktamish 
Khan, after having vanquished and humbled Mamai, penetrated 
as far as Moscow, sacked ihe city, and massacred a great num- 
ber of the inhabitants. Demetrius was forced to implore the 
mercy of the conqueror, and to send his son a hostage to the 
horde in security for his allegiance. 

The chief residence of the Teutonic Order, which had for- 
merly been at Verden, was fixed at Marienburg, a city newly 
built, which from that time became the capital of all Prussia. 
The Teutonic Knights did not limit their conquests to Prussia; 
they took from the Poles Dantzic or Eastern Pomerania (1311,) 
situated between the Netze, the Vistula, and the Baltic Sea, and 
known since by the name of Pomerelia. This province was 
definitively ceded to them, with the territory of Culm, and 
Michelau, by a treaty of peace which was signed at Kalitz 
(1343.) The city of Dantzic, which was their capital, increased 
considerably under the dominion of the Order, and became one 
of the principal entrepots for the commerce of the Baltic. Oi 
all the exploits of these Knights, the most enterprising was that 
which had for its object the conquest of Lithuania. Religion, 
and a pretended gift of the Emperor Louis of Bavaria, served 
them as a pretext for attacking the Lithuanians, who were Pa- 
gans, in a murderous war, which continued almost without in- 
terruption for the space of a century. The Grand Dukes of 
Lithuania, always more formidable after their defeat, defended 
their liberties and independence with a courage and perseverance 
almost miraculous; and it was only by taking advantage of the 
dissensions which had arisen in the family of the Grand Duke, 



200 



CHAPTER VI. 



that they succeeded in obtaining possession of Samogitia. by 
the treaty of peace which was concluded at Racianz (1404.) 

The Knights of Livonia, united to the Teutonic Order under 
the authority of one and the same Grand Master, added to their 
former conquests the province of Esthonia, which was sold to 
them by Valdemar IV., King of Denmark. ^^ The Teutonic 
Knights were at the zenith of their greatness, about the begin- 
ning of the fifteenth century. At that time they were become 
a formidable power in the North, having under their dominion 
the whole of Prussia, comprehending Pomerania and the New 
March, as also Samogitia, Courland, Livonia and Esthonia. ^^ 
A population proportioned to the extent of their dominions, a 
well regulated treasury, and a flourishing commerce, seemed to 
guarantee them a solid and durable empire. Nevertheless, the 
jealousy of their neighbours, the union of Lithuania with Po- 
land, and the conversion of the Lithuanians to Christianity, 
which deprived the Knights of the assistance of the Crusaders, 
soon became fatal to their Order, and accelerated their down- 
fall. The Lithuanians again obtained possession of Samogitia, 
which, with Sudavia, was ceded to them by the various treaties 
which they concluded with that Order, between 1411-1436. 

The oppressive government of the Teutonic Knights — their 
own private dissensions, and the intolerable burden of taxation — 
the fatal consequence of incessant war — induced the nobles and 
cities of Prussia and Pomerania to form a confederacy against 
the Order, and to solicit the protection of the Kings of Poland. 
This was granted to them, on their signing a deed of submission 
to that kingdom (1454.) The result was a long and bloody 
war with Poland, which did not terminate till the peace of Thorn 
(1466.) Poland then obtained the cession of Culm, Michelau 
and Dantzic ; that is to say, all the countries now comprehended 
under the name of Polish Prussia. The rest of Prussia was 
retained by the Teutonic Order, who promised, by means of 
their Grand Master, to do fealty and homage for it to the Kings 
of Poland. The chief residence of the Order was then trans- 
ferred to Koningsberg, where it continued until the time when the 
Knights were deprived of Prussia by the House of Brandenburg. 

At length, however, Poland recovered from this state of weak- 
ness into which the unfortunate divisions of Boleslaus III. and 
his descendants had plunged it. Uladislaus IV. surnamed the 
Dwarf, having combined several of these principalities, was 
crowned King of Poland at Cracow (1320.) From that time 
the Royal dignity became permanent in Poland, and was trans- 
mitted to all the successors of Uladislaus. '-' The immediate 
successor of that Prince was his son Casimir the Great, who 



PERIOD V. A. D. 1300 1453. 



201 



li 



renounced his rights of sovereignty over Silesia in favour of the 
King of Bohemia, and afterwards compensated this loss by the 
acquisition of several of the provinces of ancient Russia. He 
likewise took possession of Red Russia (1340,) as also of the 
provinces of Volhynia, Podolia, Chelm and Belz, which he con- 
quered from the Grand Dukes of Lithuania (1349,) who had 
fornierh' dismembered them from the Russian Empire. 

Under Casimir the Great, another revolution happened in the 
government of Poland. That Prince, having no children of his 
own, and wishing to bequeath the crown to his nephew Louis, 
his sister's son, by Charles Robert King of Hungary, convoked 
a general assembly of the nation at Cracow (1339,) and there 
got the succession of the Hungarian Prince ratified, in opposi- 
tion to the legitimate rights of the Piast Dynasty, who reigned 
in Masovia and Silesia. This subversion of the hereditary 
right of the different branches of the Piasts, gave the Polish 
Nobles a pretext for interfering in the election of their Kings, 
until at last the throne became completely elective. It also 
afforded them an opportunity for limiting the power of their 
Kings, and laying the foundation of a republican and aristocratic 
government. Deputies were sent into Hungary (1355,) even 
during the life of Casimir, who obliged King Louis, his intended 
successor, to subscribe an act which provided that, on his ac- 
cession to the crown, he should bind himself, and his successors, 
to disburden the Polish nobility of all taxes and contributions ; 
that he should never, under any pretext, exact subsidies from 
them; and that, in travelling, he should claim nothing for the 
support of his court, in any place during his journey. The an- 
cient race of the Piast sovereigns of Poland ended with Casimir 
(1370,) after having occupied the throne of that kingdom for 
several centuries. 

His successor in Poland and Hungary w^as Louis, surnamed 
the Great. In a Diet assembled in 1382, he obtained the con- 
currence of the Poles, in the choice which he had made of Sigis- 
mund of Luxembourg, as his son-in-law and successor in both 
kingdoms. But on the death of Louis, which happened imme- 
diately after, the Poles broke their engagement, and confeired 
their crown on Hedwiga, a younger daughter of that Prince. It 
was stipulated, that she should marry Jagellon, Grand Duke of 
Lithuania, who agreed to incorporate Lithuania with Poland, 
to renounce Paganism, and embrace Christianity, himself and 
all his subjects. Jagellon was baptized, when he received the 
name of Uladislaus, and was crowned King of Poland at Cracow 
(1386.) 2- It was on the accession of JagelIon,that Poland and 
Lithuania, long opposed in their interests, and implacable enemies 



202 



CHAPTER VI. 



of each other, were united into one body politic under the au- 
thority of one and the same King. Nevertheless, for nearly 
tvvo centuries, Lithuania still preserved its own Grand Dukes, 
who acknowledged the sovereignty of Poland ; and it was not, 
properly speaking, till the reign of Sigismund Augustus, that 
the union of the two states was finally accomplished (1569.) 
This important union rendered Poland the preponderating power 
of the North. It became fatal to the influence of the Teutonic 
Order, who soon yielded to the united efTorts of the Poles and 
Lithuanians. 

Uladislaus Jagellon did not obtain the assent of the Polish 
nobility to the succession of his son, except by adding new pri- 
vileges to those which they had obtained from his predecessor. 
He was the first of the Polish kings who, for the purpose of im- 
posing an extraordinary taxation, called in the Nuncios or De- 
puties of the Nobility to the General Diet (1404,) and established 
the use of Dietines or provincial diets. His descendants enjoyed 
the crown until they became extinct, in the sixteenth century. 
The succession, however, was mixed ; and although the princes 
of the Houseof Jagellon might regard themselves as hereditary 
possessors of the kingdom, nevertheless, on every change of 
reign, it was necessary that the crown should be conferred by 
the choice and consent of the nobility. 

In Hungary, the male race of the ancient kings, descendants 
of Duke Arpad, had become extinct in Andrew III. (1301.) The 
Crown was then contested by several competitors, and at length 
fell into the hands of the House of Anjou, the reigning family 
of Naples. Charles Robert, grandson of Charles II. King of 
Naples, by Mary of Hungary, outstripped his rivals, and trans- 
mitted the Crown to his son Louis, surnamed the Great (1308.) 
This Prmce, characterized by his eminent qualities, made a dis- 
tinguished figure among the Kings of Hungary. He conquered 
from the Venetians the whole of Dalmatia, from the frontiers of 
Istria, as far as Durazzo ; he reduced the Princes of Moldavia, 
Walachia, Bosnia and Bulgaria, to a state of dependence ; and 
at length mounted the throne of Poland on the de,jth of his uncle 
Casimir the Great. "^ Mary, his eldest daughter, succeeded 
him in the kingdom of Hungary (1382.) This Princess mar- 
ried Sigismund of Luxembourg, who thus united the monarchy 
of Hungary to the Imperial crown. 

The reign of Sigismund in Hungary was most unfortunate, 
and a prey to continual disturbances. He had to sustain the 
first war against the Ottoman Turks ; and with the Emperor of 
Constantinople, as his ally, he assembled a formidable army, 
with which he undertook the siege of Nicopolis in Bulgaria, 



PERIOD V. A. D. 1300 1453. 



203 



Here he sustained a complete defeat by the Turks. In his re- 
treat he was compelled to embark on the Danube, and directed 
his flight towards Constantinople, This disaster was followed 
by new misfortunes. The malcontents of Hungary offered their 
Crown to Ladislaus, called the Magnanimous, King of Naples, 
who took possession of Dalmatia, which he afterwards surren- 
dered to the Venetians. Desirous to provide for the defence 
and security of his kingdom, Sigismund acquired, by treaty with 
the Prince of Servia, the fortress of Belgrade (1425,) which, by 
Its situation at the confluence of the Danube and the Save, 
seemed to him a proper bulwark to protect Hungary against the 
Turks. He transmitted the crown of Hungary to his son-in-law, 
Albert of Austria, who reigned only two years. The war with 
the Turks was renewed under Uladislaus of Poland, son of 
Jagellon, and successor to Albert. That Prince fought a bloody 
battle with them near Varna in Bulgaria (1444.) The Hungari- 
ans again sustained a total defeat, and the King himself lost his 
life in the action. ^'* The safety of Hungary then depended en- 
tirely on the bravery of the celebrated John Hunniades, governor 
of the kingdom, during the minority of Ladislaus, the posthu- 
mous son of Albert of Austria. That general signalized himselt 
in various actions against the Turks, and obliged Mahomet II. 
to raise the siege of Belgrade (1456,) where he lost above twenty- 
five thousand men, and was himself severely wounded. 

The Greek Empire was gradually approaching its downfall, 
under the feeble administration of the House of Paleologus, who 
had occupied the throne of Constantinople since the year 1261. 
The same vices of which we have already spoken, the great 
power of the patriarchs and the monks, the rancour of theological 
disputes, the fury of sectaries and schismatics, and the internal 
dissension to which they gave rise, aggravated the misfortunes 
and disorders of the state, and were instrumental in hastening 
on its final destruction. John I. and his successors, the last 
Emperors of Constantinople, being reduced to the sad necessity 
of paying tribute to the Turks, and marching on military expe- 
ditions, at the command of the Sultans, owed the preservation 
of their shattered and declining Empire, for some time, entirely 
to the reverses of fortune which had befallen the Ottomans ; and 
to the difficulties which the siege of their capital presented to a 
barbarous nation unacquainted with the arts of blockade. 

The power of the Ottoman Turks took its rise about the end 
of the thirteenth century. A Turkish Emir, called Ottoman, 
or Osman, was its original founder in Asia Minor. He was 
one of the number of those Emirs, who, after the subversion of 
the Seljukians of Roum or Iconium, by the Moguls, shared 



204 



CHAPTER VI. 



among them the spoils of their ancient masters. A part of 
Bithynia, and the whole country lying- round Mount Olympus, 
fell 10 the share of Ottoman, who afterwards formed an alliance 
with the other Emirs, and invaded the possessions of the Greek 
Empire, under the feeble reign of the Emperor Andronicus II. 
Prusa, or Bursa, the ])rincipal city of Bithynia, was conquered 
by Ottoman (1327.) He and his successors made it the capital 
of their new state, which, in course of time, gained the ascen- 
dency over all the other Turkish sovereignties, formed, like thai 
of Ottoman, from the ruins of Iconium and the Greek Empire. 

Orchan, the son and successor of Ottoman, instituted the 
famous Order of the Janissaries, to which in a great measure 
the Turks owed their success. He took from the Greeks th,e 
cities of Nice and Nicomedia in Bithynia; and, after having 
subdued most of the Turkish Emirs in Asia Minor, he took the 
title of Sultan or King, as well as that of Pacha, which is equi- 
valent to the title of Emperor. His son Soliman crossed the Hel- 
lespont, by his orders, near the ruins of ancient Troy, and took 
the city of Gallipoli, in the Thracian Chersonesus (1358.) The 
conquest of this place opened a passage for the Turks into Eu- 
rope, when Thrace and the whole of Greece was soon inundated 
by these new invaders. Amurath I., the son and successor of 
Orchan, made himself master of Adrianople and the whole 
of Thrace (1360;) he next attacked Macedonia, Servia and 
Bulgaria, and appointed the UrstBeglerbeg, or Governor-general 
of Eomelia. Several Turkish princes of Asia Minor were 
obliged to acknowledge his authority ; he made himself master 
of Kmtaja, the metropolis of Phrygia, which afterwards became 
the capital of Anatolia, and the residence of the governor of that 
province (1389.) Amurath was slain at the battle of Cassova. 
which he fought with the Despot of Servia, assisted by his nume- 
rous allies. In this bloody battle the Despot himself was slain, 
and both sides equally claimed the victory. Bajazet I., the suc- 
cessor of Amurath, put an end to all the Turkish sovereignties 
which still subsisted in Asia Minor. He completed the reduc- 
tion of Bulgaria, and maintained the possession of it by the 
signal victory which he gained at Nicopolis (1396) over Sigis- 
mund. King of Hungary. The Greek Empire would have yield- 
ed to the persevering efforts of that prince, who had maintained, 
for ten years, the siege of Constantinople, had he not been at- 
tacked, in the midst of these enterprises, by the famous Timour. 
the new conqueror of Asia. 

Timour, commonly called Tamerlane, was one of those Mogul 
EtTiirs who had divided amongst them the sovereignty of Trans- 
oxiana, after the extinction of the Mogul dynasty of Zagatai. 



PERIOD V. A. V. 1300—1453. 205 



I i 



Transoxiana was the theatre of his first exploits ; there he 
usurped the whole power of the Khans, or Emperors of Zagatai, 
and fixed the capital of his new dominions at the city of 
Samarcand (1369.) Persia, the whole of Upper Asia, Kipzach, 
and Hindostan, were vanquished by him in succession; where- 
ver he marched, he renewed the same scenes of horror, blood- 
shed, and carnage, which had marked the footsteps of the 
first Mogul conqueror.-'^ Timour at length attacked the do- 
minions of Bajazet in Anatolia (1400.) He fought a bloody 
and decisive battle near Angora, in the ancient Gallogrecia, 
which proved fatal to the Ottoman Empire. Bajazet sustained 
! j an entire defeat, and fell himself into the hands of the con- 
queror. All Anatolia was then conquered and pillaged by the 
Moguls, and there Timour fixed his winter quarters. Meantime 
he treated his captive Bajazet with kindness and generosity; 
and the anecdote of the iron cage, in which he is said to have 
confined his prisoner, merits no credit. Sherefeddin Ali, who 
accompanied Timour in his expedition against Bajazet, makes no 
mention of it; on the contrary, he avers that Timour consented 
to leave him the Empire, and that he granted the investiture of 
it to him and two of his sons. Bajazet did not long survive his 
misfortune ; he died of an attack of apoplexy (1403,) with which 
he was struck in the camp of Timour in Caramania. 

Timour, a short time after, formed the project of an expedi- 
tion into China; but he died on the route in 1405, at the age 
of sixty-nine. His vast dominions were dismembered after his 
death. One of his descendants, named Babour, founded a pow- 
erful Empire in India, the remains of which are still preserved 
under the name of the Empire of the Great Mogul. The inva- 
sion of Timour retarded for some time the progress of the Turk- 
ish Empire. The fatal dissensions, which arose among the sons 
of Bajazet, set them at open war with each other. At length 
Amurath II., the son of Mahomet I., and grandson of Bajazet, 
succeeded in putting a stop to these divisions, and restored the 
Empire to its primitive splendour. He deprived the Greeks of 
all the places which still remained in their hands on the Black 
Sea, along the coast of Thrace, in Macedonia and Thessaly, 
He even took, by assault, the wall and forts which they had 
constructed at the entrance of the isthmus of Corinth, and car- 
ried his ravages to the very centre of the Peloponnesus. 

The two heroes of the Christians, John Hunniades and Scan- 
derbeg, arrested the progress of the Ottoman Sultan. The 
former, who was General of the Hungarians, boldly repulsed 
the Sultan of Servia, whom he was ambitious to conquer. The 
other, a Greek Prince, who possessed one of the petty states of 



Lh 



2(16 



CHAPTER VI. 



Albania of which Croja was the capital, resisted with success 
the repealed attacks of the Turks. Supported by a smaJl but 
well disciplined army, and faA'oured by the mountains with whirh 
his territory was surrounded, he twice compelled Amurath to 
raise the siege of Croja. At length appeared Mahomet II., the 
son and successor of Amurath, (1451.) This Prince, who was 
raised to the Ottoman throne in the twentieth year of his age, 
conceived the design of achieving the conquest of the Greek 
Empire, by the taking of Constantinople. He succeeded in 
overcoming all the difficulties which obstructed this enterprise, 
in which several of his predecessors had failed. At the head 
of an army of three hundred thousand combatants, supported 
by a fleet of 300 sail, he appeared before that capital, and com- 
menced the siege on the 6th April 1453. The besieged having 
only from SOOO to 10,000 men to oppose the superior force of 
the enemy, yielded to the powerful and redoubled efforts of the 
Turks, after a vigorous defence of fifty-three days. The city 
was carried by assault, 29th May, and delivered up to the un- 
restrained pillage of the soldiers. Constantine, surnamed 
Dragases, the last of the Greek Emperors, perished in the first 
onset; and all the inhabitants of that great and opulent city 
were carried into slavery.-^ Mahomet, on entering the very 
day of the sack, saw nothing but one vast and dismal solitude. 
Wishing afterwards to attract new inhabitants to this city, which 
he proposed to make the seat of his Empire, he guaranteed an 
entire liberty of conscience to the Greeks who might come 
to settle there ; and authorized them to proceed to the elec- 
tion of a new patriarch, whose dignity he enhanced by the 
honours and privileges which he attached to it. He restored 
also the fortifications of the city, and, by way of precaution 
against the armaments of the Venetians and other western 
nations, which he had some reason to dread, he constructed 
the famous castle of the Dardanelles, at the entrance of the 
Hellespont. 

This conquest was followed by that of Servia, Bosnia, Alba- 
nia, Greece, and the whole Peloponnesus or Morea, as well as 
most of the islands of the Archipelago. The Greek Empire of 
Trebizond, on the coast of Asia Minor, submitted in like man- 
ner to the law of the conqueror (1466.) David Commenus, the 
last Emperor, fell by the swords of the Mahometans, and with 
him perished many of his children and relations. Such a rapid 
succession of conquests created an alarm among the powers of 
Christendom. In an assembly, which Pope Pius II. held at 
Mantua (1459,) he proposed a general association among the 
powers of the West against the Turks. A crusade was pub- 



PERIOD VI. A. D. 1453—1648. 207 

lished by his orders, and he was on the point of setting out in 
person at the head ot this expedition, wlien he was suddenly cut 
off by death ai Ancona (1464,) where he had appointed the 
general rendezvous of the confederate tioops. This event, add- 
ed to the terror which the arms of Mahomet had created among 
the nations o( the West, disconcerted the plans of the Crusa- 
ders, and was the means of dissolving their confederacy. The 
Turkish Empire thus became firmly established in Europe, and 
the Tartars of the Crimea put themselves at the same time 
under the protection of the Porte. 



CHAPTER VII. 



PERIOD VI. I 



From ike taking of Constantinople by the Turks, to the Peace 
of Westphalia.— X. d. 1453—1648. 

The revolution which happened in the fifteenth century en- 
tirely changed the face of Europe, and introduced a new system 
of politics. This revolution was not achieved by any combina- 
tions of profound policy, nor by the operation of that physical 
force which generally subverts thrones and governments. It 
was the result of those progressive changes which had been 
produced in the ideas and understandings of the nations of Eu- 
rope, by the improvements and instimtions of preceding times ; 
as well as by the invention of paper and printing, of gunpowder, 
and the mariner's compass. By means of these, the empire of 
letters and arts was greatly extended, and various salutary im- 
provements made in the religion, manners, and governments of 
Europe. The people by degrees shook off the yoke of barba- 
rism, superstition, and fanaticism, wnich the revolution of the 
fifth century had imposed on thsm ; and from that time the 
principal States of Europe began to acquire the strength, and 
gradually to assume the form, which they have since maintained. 

Several extraordinary events, however, conspired to accelerate 
these happy changes. The Belles Lettres and the Fine Arts 
shone out with new splendour, after the downfall of the Greek 
Empire. The celebrated Petrarch, and his disciples Boccacio 
and John of Ravenna, were the first that made the Italians ac- 
quainted with ancient literature, as the true source and standard 
of good taste. They prepared the way for a vast number of the 
Grecian literati, who, to escape the barbarity of the Turks, had 
fled into Italy, where they opened schools, and brought the study 



I 



208 



CHAPTER Vn. 



of Greek literature into considerable repute. The mos:t celebrated 
of these Greek refugees were, Manuel Chrysoloras, Cardinal 
Bessarion, Theodore Gaza, George of Trebizond, John Argyro- 
philus, and Demetrius Chalcondyles. Protected by the family 
of the Medicis at Florence, they assisted in forming those fine 
geniuses which arose in Italy during the fifteenth century, such 
as Leonard Aretin, the two Guarini, Poggio of Florence, Ange- 
lo Politian, and many others. Academies, or Free Societies, 
were founded at Rome Naples, Venice, Milan, Ferrara and 
Florence, for the encouragement of ancient literature. 

From Italy the studj^ of the ancient arts passed to the other 
states of Europe. They soon diffused their influence over every 
department of literature and science, Avhich by degrees assumed 
an aspect totally new. The scholastic system, Avhich till then 
had been in vogue in the pulpits and universities, lost its credit, 
and gave place to a more refined philosophy. Men learned to 
discriminate the vices of the feudal system, and sought out the 
means of correcting them. The sources of disorder and anarchy 
were gradually dried up, and gave place to better organized 
governments. Painting, sculpture, and the arts in general, 
cleared from the Gothic rust which they had contracted during 
the barbarous ages, and finished after the models of the ancients, 
shone forth with renewed lustre. Navigation, under the direc- 
tion of the compass, reached a degree of perfection which at- 
tracted universal attention ; and while the ancients merely coasted 
along their own shores in the pursuit of commerce or maritime 
exploits, we find the modern Europeans extending their naviga- 
tion over the whole globe, and bringing both hemispheres under 
their dominion. 

America, unknown to the ancients, was discovered during 
this period ; as well as the route to India and the East, round 
the Continent of Africa. The notion of a fourth quarter of the 
world had long been prevalent among the ancients. We aU 
recollect the Atlantis of Plato, which, according to the assertion 
of that philosopher, was larger than Asia and Africa ; and we 
know that ^lian the historian, who lived in the reign of Adrian, 
affirmed in like manner the existence of a fourth continent of 
immense extent. This opinion had got so much into fashion, 
during the fourth and fifth centuries of the Christian era, that 
Lactantius and St. Augustine thought themselves bound in duty 
to combat it in their writings ; inveighing against the antipodes 
by reasons and arguments, the frivolousness of which is now 
very generally admitted ; but, whatever were the notions which 
the ancients might have entertained as to a fourth quarter of the 
globe, it is very certain that they knew it only from conjecture 
and that their navigation never extended so far. 




Death of Joan of Arc. P. 193. The English inhumanly 
burned this Heroine as a Sorceress. 




Death of Constantine XV. in Defending Constantinople, 

P, 206. 



PEHioD VI. 1453—1648. 209 

The honour of this important discovery belongs to modem 
navigators, more especially to Christopher Columbus, a native 
of Genoa. From the knowledge virhich this celebrated man had 
Jicquired in the sciences of Navigation, Astronomy, and Geo- 
graphy, he was persuaded that there must be another hemisphere 
lying to the westward, and unknown to Europeans, but neces- 
sary to the equilibrium of the globe. These conjectures he 
communicated to several of the courts of Europe, who all re- 
garded him as a visionary ; and it was not till after many soli- 
citations, that Isabella, Queen of Castile, granted him three 
vessels, with which he set sail in quest of the new continent, 
3d August 1492. After a perilous navigation of some months, 
he reached the Island Guanahani or Cat Island, one of the Lu- 
cayos or Bahamas, to which he gave the name of St. Salvador. 
This discovery Avas followed soon after by that of the Islands of 
St. Domingo and Cuba; and in the second and third voyages 
which that navigator undertook to America (1493-1498,) he dis- 
covered the mainland or continent of the New World, especially 
the coast of Paria, as far as the point of Araya, making part of 
the province known at present by the name of Cumana. 

The track of the Genoese navigator was followed by a Flo- 
rentine merchant, named Amerigo Vesputio. Under the con- 
duct of a Spanish captain, called Alphonso de Ojeda, he made' 
several voyages to the New World after the year 1497. Diffe- 
rent coasts of the continent of South America were visited by 
him; and in the maps of his discoveries which he drew up, he 
usurped a glory which did not belong to him, by applying his 
own name to the new continent ; which it has since retained. 

The Spaniards conquered the islands and a great part of the 
continent of America ; extending their victories along with their 
discoveries. Stimulated by the thirst of gold, which the New 
World offered to them in abundance, they committed crimes and 
barbarities which make humanity shudder. Millions of the 
unfortunate natives were either massacred or buried in the sea, 
in spite of the efforts which the Spanish Bishop, Bartholomew 
de Las Casas, vainly made to arrest the fury of his country- 
men. ^ In the year after the first discovery of Columbus, Fer- 
dinand the Catholic, King of Spain, obtained a bull from Pope 
Alexander VI., by which that Pontiff made him a gift of all the 
countries discovered, or to be discovered, towards the west and 
the south ; drawing an imaginary line from one pole to the other, 
at the distance of a hundred leagues westward of Cape Verd 
and the Azores. This decision having given offence to the King 
of Portugal, who deemed it prejudicial to his discoveries in the 
East, an accommodation was contrived between the two courts, 

14 



210 



CHAPTER Vn. 



in virtue of which the same Pope, by another Bull (1494,) re- 
moved the line in question farther west, to the distance of four 
hundred and seventy leagues ; so that all the countries lying to 
the westward of this line should belong to the King of Spain, 
while those which might be discovered to the eastward, should 
fall to the possession of the King of Portugal. ^ It was on this 
pretended title that the Spaniards founded their right to demand 
the submission of the American nations to the Spanish Crown. 
Their principal conquests in the New World commence from 
the reign of the Emperor Charles V. It was in his name that 
Ferdinand Cortes, with a mere handful of troops, overthrew the 
vast Empire of Mexico (1521 ;) the last Emperors of which, 
Montezuma and Gatimozin, were slain, and a prodigious num- 
ber of the Mexicans put to the sword. The conqueror of Peru 
was Francis Pizarro (1533.) He entered the country, at the 
head of 300 men, at the very time when Atabalipa or Atahualpa 
was commencing his reign as Incas, or Sovereign of Peru. That 
prince was slain, and the whole of Peru subdued by the Spaniards. 

[The Spaniards founded various colonies and establishments 
in that part of America which they had subjected to their do- 
minion. The character of these colonies dift'ered from that of 
the establishments which the Portuguese had founded in India, 
and the Dutch, the English, and the French, in different parts 
of the world. As the Spaniards were by no means a commer- 
cial nation, the precious metals alone were the object of their 
cupidity. They applied themselves, in consequence, to the 
working of mines ; they imported negroes to labour in them, 
and made slaves of the natives. In process of time, when the 
number of Europeans had increased in these countries, and the 
precious metals became less abundant, the Spanish colonists 
were obliged to employ themselves in agriculture, and in raising 
what is commonly called colonial produce. What we have now 
said, accounts for the limitations and restrictions which were 
imposed on the trade of these colonies by the Spanish govern- 
ment ; they wished to reserve to themselves exclusively the pro- 
fits of the mines. Commerce, which at first had been confined 
to the single entrepot of Seville, fell into the hands of a small 
number of merchants, to the entire exclusion of foreigners. As 
for the Spanish possessions in America, they were planted with 
Episcopal and Metropolitan Sees, Missions, Convents, and Uni- 
versities. The Inquisition was also introduced ; but the hierar- 
chy which was founded there, instead of augmenting the power 
of the Popes, remained in a state of complete dependence upon 
the Sovereigns.] 

The discovery of Brazil belongs to the Portuguese. Alvares 



PERIOD VI. A. D. 1453---1648. 211 

Cabral, the commander of their fleet, while on his route to India, 
was driven, by contrary winds, on the coast of Brazil (1500,) and 
took possession of the country in name of the King of Por- 
tugal. This colony, in the course of time, became highly im- 
portant, from the rich mines of diamonds and gold which were 
discovered there. 

The Spaniards and Portuguese were at first the only masters 
of America ; but in a short time, establishments were formed 
there by some of the other maritime nations of Europe. The 
first English colony was that of Virginia, which was conducted 
to North America by Sir Walter Raleigh (1584,) but it did not 
gain a permanent settlement till the reign of James I. This was 
afterwards followed by several other colonies which had settled 
in that part of the American continent, on account of the perse- 
cution carried on by the Stuart Kings against the non-conform- 
ists. The first settlements of the English in the Antilles, were 
those which they formed in the Islands of Barbadoes and St. 
Christopher (1629 ;) to these they added the Island of Jamaica, 
which they took from the Spaniards (1655.) The date of the 
French establishments in Canada, is as old as the reigns of 
Francis I. and Henry IV., in the years 1534 and 1604. The 
city of Quebec was founded in 1608. It was at a later period 
when the French established themselves in the Antilles. The 
origin of their colonies in Martinique and Gaudaloupe, is gene- 
rally referred to the year 1635. They gained a footing in St. 
Domingo as early as 1630, but the flourishing state of that re- 
markable colony did not begin, properly speaking, till 1722. All 
the establishments which the English and French had formed in 
America, were purely agricultural ; and in this respect they were 
distinguished from the Spanish colonies. 

The discovery of a passage by sea to the East Indies round 
Africa, belongs also to the Portuguese. It forms one of those 
great events which often take their first impulse from very slen- 
der causes. John I. surnamed the Bastard, the new founder of 
the kingdom of Portugal, being desirous of affording to his sons 
an opportunity of signalizing themselves, and earning the honour 
of knighthood, planned an expedition against the Moois in Africa; 
he equipped a fleet, with which he landed in the neighbourhood 
of Ceuta (1415,) of which he soon made himself master, and 
created his sons knights in the grand mosque of that city. After 
"^ this event, the Portuguese began to have a taste for navigation 
and maritime discoveries. In this they were encouraged by the 
Infant Don Henry, Duke of Viseu, and one of the sons of King 
John, who had particularly distinguished himself in the expedi- 
tion of which we have just spoken. That prince, who was well 



212 



CHAPTER VII. 



skilled in mathematics and the art of navigation, established his 
residence at Cape St. Vincent, on the western extremity of Al- 
garva. There he ordered vessels to be constructed at his own 
expense, and sent them to reconnoitre the coasts of Africa. From 
that time the Portuguese discovered, in succession, the Islands of 
Madeira (1420,) the Canaries (1424,) the Azores (1431,) and 
Cape Verd (1460.) There they founded colonies; and, ad- 
vancing by degrees along the southern shores of Africa, they 
extended their navigation as far as the coasts of Guinea and Ni- 
gritia. The islands which they had newly discovered, were 
confirmed to the Kings of Portugal by several of the Popes. The 
Canaries, however, having been claimed by the Spaniards, a 
treaty was negotiated between the two kingdoms, in virtue of 
which these islands were abandoned to Spain (1481.) 

It was under the reign of John II. that the Portuguese ex- 
tended their navigation as far as the most southerly point of 
Africa. Bartholomew Diaz, their admiral, Avas the first who 
doubled the Cape, which he called the Stormy Cape ; a name 
which King John changed into that of Good Hope. At length, 
after twelve years of toils, Vasco di Gama, another Portuguese 
admiral, had the glory of carrying his national flag as far as 
India. He landed at the Port of Calicut (1498,) on the Ma- 
labar coast, in the third year of the reign of Emmanuel. Several 
other celebrated Portuguese navigators, such as Almeida, Albu- 
querque, Acunga, Silveira, and de Castro, following the tract of 
Vasco di Gama, laid the foundation of the power of the Portu- 
guese in India. Francis Almeida defeated the fleet of the 
Mameluke Sultan of Egypt, in conjunction with that of the 
Kings of India (1509.) Alfonzo Albuquerque conquered Goa 
(1511,) and made it the capital of all the Portuguese settlements 
in that part of the world. About the same time, the Portuguese 
established themselves in the Molucca Islands, with some oppo- 
sition on the part of the Spaniards. Anthony Silveira signalized 
himself by his able defence of Diu (1535.) He repulsed the 
Turks, and ruined the fleet which Soliman the Great had sent 
to the siege of that place (1547.) The King of Cambay having 
resumed the siege, he experienced likewise a total defeat from 
John de Castro, who then conquered the whole kingdom of Diu. 

The Portuguese found powerful kingdoms in India, and 
nations rich and civilized. There, nature and the industry of 
the natives, produced or fabricated those articles of commerce 
and merchandise which have since become an object of luxury 
to Europeans ; at least until the activity of the Venetians had 
furnished the inhabitants of this part of the world with them in 
such abundance, as to make them regarded as artiJes of abso- 



lERioDVi. A. D. 1453— 1648. 213 

lute necessity. This circumstance was the reason why the Por- 
tuguese never formed any other than mercantile establishments 
in India, which they erected on the coasts, without extending 
them into the interior. The working of the mines, and the cares 
of agriculture, were abandoned entirely to the natives. 

This era produced a total change in the commerce of the East. 
Formerly the Venetians were the people that carried on the 
principal traffic to India. The Jewish or Mahometan merchants 
purchased at Goa, Calicut, and Cochin, those spiceries and other 
productions of the East, which they imported into Syria by the 
Persian Gulf, and into Egypt by the Red Sea. They were then 
conveyed by a laborious and expensive land-carriage, either to 
the port of Alexandria, or that of Bairout in Syria. Thither 
the Venetians repaired in quest of the luxuries of India ; they 
fixed their price, and distributed them over all Europe. This 
commerce proved a source of vast wealth to these republicans : 
it furnished them with the means of maintaining a formida- 
ble marine, and of very often dictating the law to the other 
European powers ; but after the discovery of the new passage 
round the Cape, and the conquests of the Portuguese in India, 
the Venetians saw themselves compelled to abandon a traffic in 
which they could not compete with the Portuguese. This was 
a terrible blow to that republic, and the principal cause of its 
downfall. The Portuguese, however, did not profit by this ex- 
clusive commerce as they might have done. They did not, like 
other nations, constitute Companies, with exclusive commercial 
privileges ; they carried it on by means of fleets, which the go- 
vernment regularly despatched at fixed periods. In this manner, 
the commodities of the East were imported to Lisbon ; but the 
indolence of the native merchants left to other nations the care 
of distributing thefti through the markets of Europe. The Dutch 
were the people that profited most by this branch of industry ; 
they cultivated it with so much success, and under such favour- 
able circumstances, that they at length succeeded in excluding 
the Portuguese themselves from this lucrative traffic, by dis- 
possessing them of their colonies in the East. 

If the events which we have now briefly detailed proved fatal 
to the Venetians, and afflicting to humanity, by the wars and 
misfortunes which they occasioned, it is nevertheless certain, 
that commerce and navigation gained prodigiously by these new 
discoveries. The Portuguese, after having maintained for some 
time the exclusive possession of the navigation and trade of the 
East, found afterwards powerful competitors in the Spaniards, 
the Dutch, English, French, and Danes, who all established 
mercantile connexions both in India and America. Hence in- 



214 CHAPTER VII. 

numerable sources of wealth were opened to the industry of the 
Europeans ; and their commerce, formerly limited to the Medi- 
terranean, the Baltic, and the Northern Seas, and confined to a 
few cities in Italy, Flanders, and Germany, was now, by means 
of their colonies in Africa, and the East and West Indies, ex- 
tended to all parts of the globe. ■* The intercourse of the Por- 
tuguese with China was as early as the year 1517, and with 
Japan it began in 1542. Ferdinand Magellan undertook the 
first voyage round the world (1519,) and his example found 
afterwards a number of imitators. ^ By degrees the maritime 
power of Europe assumed a formidable aspect ; arts and manu- 
factures were multiplied ; and states, formerly poor, became rich 
and flourishing. Kingdoms at length found in their commerce, 
resources for augmenting their strength and their influence, and 
carrying into execution their projects of aggrandizement and 
conquest. 

[Among the causes of this revolution which took place in 
commerce, it is necessary to take into account a discovery ap- 
parently of trivial importance, but which exercised a most ex- 
traordinary influence over the civilization of Europe, viz. that 
of horse-posts for the conveyance of letters. Before the sixteenth 
century, the communications between distant countries were 
few and difficult. Messengers, travelling on short journeys, on 
foot or on horseback, were their only couriers. About the be- 
ginning of the seventeenth century, and during the reign of 
Maximilian I., an Italian gentleman of the name of Francis de 
la Tour et Taxis, established the first posts in the Low Coun- 
tries. Their object at first was merely for the conveyance of 
letters by posts or post, for which he provided regular relays. 
By and by, for the sake of despatch, the use of horses was in- 
troduced, placed at certain distances. From the Loav Countries 
this system found its way into Germany, where its profits 
were secured to the family of Taxis by imperial grants ; and 
from thence it spread over every civilized country in the world.] 

A revolution not less important, is that which took place in re- 
ligion about the beginning of the sixteenth century. The abuses 
which disgraced the court of Rome, the excess of the power, and 
the depravity of the morals of the clergy, had excited a very ge- 
neral discontent. A reformation had for a long time been deemed 
necessary, but there was a difference of opinion as to the me- 
thod of effecting it. The common notion was, that this task 
•tould be legally accomplished only by General Councils, con- 
voked under the authority of the Popes. It was easy, however, 
to perceive the ineflicacy of any remedy left at the disposal of 
those very persons from whom the evil proceeded ; and the un- 



PERIOD VI. A. D. 1453 — 1648. 215 

successful results of the Councils of Constance and Basle, had 
taught the people, that, in order to obtain redress for the abuses 
of which they complained, it was necessary to have recourse to 
some other scheme than that of General Councils. This scheme 
was attempted by the Reformers of the sixteenth century, who 
were persuaded, that, in order to restrain the exorbitant power 
of the clergy, they ought to reject the infallibility of the Pope, 
as well as that of General Councils ; admitting no other autho- 
rity in ecclesiastical matters, than that of the sacred scriptures, 
interpreted by the lights of reason and sound criticism. 

The immediate and incidental cause of this change in reli- 
gion, was the enormous abuse of indulgences. Pope Leo X., 
who was of the family of the Medicis, and well known for his 
extensive patronage of literature and the fine arts, having ex- 
hausted the treasury of the church by his luxury and his mu- 
nificence, had recourse to the expedient of indulgences, which 
several of his predecessors had already adopted as a means of 
recruiting their finances. The ostensible reason was, the ba- 
silica of St. Peter's at Rome, the completion of which was 
equally interesting to the whole of Christendom. Offices for 
the sale of indulgences were established in all the different 
states of Europe. The purchasers of these indulgences ob- 
tained absolution of their sins, and exemption from the pains of 
purgatory after death. The excesses committed by the emis- 
saries who had the charge of those indulgences, and the scan- 
dalous means which they practised to extort money, brought on 
the schism to which we are about to advert. 

Two theologians, Martin Luther, and Ulric Zuingle, opposed 
these indulgences, and inveighed against them in their sermons 
and their writings ; the former at Wittemberg in Saxony ; the 
other, first at Einsiedeln, and afterwards at Zurich, in Switzer- 
land. Leo X. at first held these adversaries in contempt. He 
did not attempt to allay the storm, until the minds of men, ex- 
asperated by the heat of dispute, were no longer disposed to 
listen to the voice of calmness and conciliation. The means 
which he subsequently tried to induce Luther to retract having 
proved abortive, he issued a thundering Bull against him (1520,) 
which, so far from abating the courage of the Reformer, tended, 
on the contrary, to embolden him still more. He publicly burnt 
the Pope's Bull, together with the Canon Law, at Wittemberg 
(lOtli December,) in presence of a vast concourse of doctors 
and students from different nations, whom he had assembled for 
the purpose. From that moment Luther and Zuingle never 
ceased to preach against the abuses of the indulgences. They 
completely undermined this system of abomination, and even 



216 CHAPTER VII. 

attacked various other dogmas and institutions of the Romish 
church, such as monastic vows, the celibacy of the priests, the 
supremacy of the Pope and the ecclesiastical hierarchy. These 
two celebrated men, who agreed in the greater part of their 
opinions, soon attracted a number of followers. The people, 
long ago prepared to shake off a yoke which had been so op- 
pressive, applauded the zeal of the Reformers ; and the new 
opinions, promptly and easily diffused by means of the press, 
were received with enthusiasm throughout a great part of 
Europe. 

John Calvin, another Reformer, trod nearly in the footsteps 
of Zuingle. He was a native of Noyon in Picardy, and began to 
distinguish himself at Paris in 1532. Being compelled to leave 
that city on account of his opinions, he withdrew to Switzerland 
(1538;) thence he passed to Strasbourg, where he was nomi- 
nated to the office of French preacher. His erudition and his 
pulpit talents gained him disciples, and gave the name of Cal- 
vinists to those who had at first been called Zuinglians. The 
Lutherans, as well as the Zuinglians or Calvinists in Germany, 
were comprehended under the common appellation of Protest- 
ants, on account of the Protest which they took against the 
decrees of the Diet of Spire (1529,) which forbade them to 
make any innovations in religion, or to abolish the mass, until 
the meeting of a General Council. The name of Lutherans 
was applied more particularly to those who adhered to the 
Confession of Augsburg, that is, the Confession of Faith which 
they presented to the Emperor Charles V., at the famous Diet 
of Augsburg, held in 1530. 

In this manner a great part of Europe revolted from the 
Pope and the Romish Church, and embraced either the doc- 
trines of Luther, or those of Zuingle and Calvin. The half oi 
Germany, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Prussia, and Livonia, 
adopted the Confession of Augsburg ; while England, Scotland, 
the United Provinces, and the principal part of Switzerland, 
declared themselves in favour of the opinions of Zuingle and 
Calvin. The new doctrines made likewise great progress in 
France, Hungary, Transylvania, Bohemia, Silesia, and Poland. 

This revolution did not convulse merely the Church ; it in- 
fluenced the politics, and changed the form of government, in 
many of the States of Europe. The same men who believed 
themselves authorized to correct abuses and imperfections in re- 
ligion, undertook to reform political abuses with the same free- 
dom. New States sprung up ; and princes took advantage of 
these commotions to augment their own power and authority. 
Constituting themselves heads of the Church and of the religion 



PERIOD VI. A. v>. 1453—1648. 217 

of their country, they shook off the fetters of priestly influence ; 
while the clergy ceased to form a counteracting or controlling 
power in the State. The freedom of opinion which characterized 
the Protestant faith, awoke the human mind from its intellectual 
lethargj', infused new energy into it, and thus contrihuted to the 
progress of civilization and science in Europe. Even the systems 
of public instruction underwent a considerable change. The 
schools were reformed, and rendered more perfect. A multitude 
of nev/ seminaries of education, academies, and universities 
were founded in all the Protestant States. This revolution, 
however, was not accomplished without great and various calami- 
ties. A hierarchy, such as that of the Church of Rome, sup- 
ported by all that was dignified and venerable, could not be 
attacked, or shaken to its foundation, without involving Europe 
in the convulsion. Hence we find that wars and factions arose 
in Germany, France, the Low Countries, Switzerland, Hungary, 
and Poland. The march of reformation was every where stain- 
ed with blood. 

The means that were employed to bring the quarrels of the 
Church to an amicable conclusion, tended rather to exasperate 
than allay the mischief; and if the conferences among the clergy 
of different persuasions failed, it was not to be expected that a 
better agreement, or a union of parties, could be founded on the 
basis of a General Council. The Protestants demanded an un- 
controlled liberty for the Council. They wished it to be assem- 
bled by order of the Emperor, in one of the cities of the Empire ; 
and that their divines should have a voice and a seat in its meet- 
ings. The Pope was to submit to its authority, and all matters 
should there be decided according to the rule of the sacred Scrip- 
tures. These terms were by no means agreeable to the Catho- 
lics. Paul III. summoned a Council at Mantua (1537,) and 
another at Vicenza (1538 ;) but both of these convocations were 
ineffectual, as was also the proposed reform in the Court of Rome, 
made by the same Pontiff. It was resolved at last, at the instance 
of the Catholic princes (1542,) to convoke the Council of Trent, 
though the opening of it was deferred till 1545. 

This famous Council met with two interruptions; the first 
took place in 1547, when the Pope, who had become alarmed at 
the success of the Imperial arms, transferred the Council to Bo- 
logna, on pretence that an epidemic distemper had broken out at 
Trent. All the prelates of the Emperor's party remained at 
Trent, in obedience to the command of their master, who pro- 
tested loudly against the assembly at Bologna, which neverthe- 
less held its ninth and tenth Sessions at that city. This latter 
Council having been dissolved b}- Paul III. ^548.,) its affairs 



218 CHAPTER VII. 

continued in a languid state for the next two years, wnen Pope 
Julius III., the successor of Paul, revived it, and transferred it 
once more to Trent (1551.) Another interruption took place at 
the time when Maurice, Elector of Saxony, had made himself 
master of Augsburg, and was marching against the Emperor 
towards Inspruck. It was then agreed to prorogue the Council, 
now in its sixteenth Session, for two years ; and to assemble 
again at the end of that period, if peace should happen in the 
mean time to be established. At length, in 1560, Pius IV., 
summoned the Council, for the third and last time, to meet at 
Trent, The session, however, did not commence till 1562 ; and 
next year its sittings were finally terminated. 

In this Council, matters were not treated in the same way as 
they had been at Constance and Basle, where each nation delibe- 
rated separately, and then gave their suffrage in common, so that 
the general decision was taken according to the votes of the dif- 
ferent nations. This form of deliberation was not at all palatable 
to the Court of Rome, who, in order to gain a preponderance in 
the assembly, thought proper to decide, by a majority of the votes 
of every individual member of the Council. The Protestant 
princes rejected entirely the authority of this Council ; which, 
far from terminating the dispute, made the schism wider than 
ever. Its decisions were even condemned by several of the Ca- 
tholic sovereigns. In France, more especially, it was never 
formally published, and they expressly excluded such of its acts 
of discipline as they considered contrary to the laws of the king- 
dom, to the authority of the sovereign, and the maxims of the 
Gallican Church. 

It is nevertheless certain that this Council was instrumental in 
restoring the tottering power of the Roman pontiffs ; v/hich receiv- 
ed at the same time a new support by the institution of tlie Order 
of the Jesuits, The founder of this order was Ignatius Loyola, 
who was born at the Castle of Loyola in Guipuscoa. He made 
the declaration of his vows in the church of Montmartre at Paris 
(1534,) and obtained from Paul III. the confirmation of his new 
Society, This order was bound, by a particular vow of obedi- 
ence, niore intimately to the Court of Rome ; and became one of 
the main instruments of its enormous power. From Spain the 
Society was speedily propagated in all the other Catholic States ; 
they filled cities and courts with their emissaries; undertook 
missions to China, Japan, and the Indies ; and under the special 
protection of the See of Rome, they soon surpassed in credit 
and wealth every other religious order. 

In the midst of these changes which took place in civil and 
ecclesiastical matters, we find a new system arising in the poli- 



PERIOD. VI. A. D. 1453—1648. 219 

lical government of Europe ; the consequence of those new ties 
and relations which had been established amongst the different 
powers since the close of the fifteenth century. Prior to this 
date, most of the European States Avere feeble, because insulated 
and detached. Occupied with their own particular interests and 
quarrels, the nations were little acquainted with each other, and 
seldom had anv influence on their mutual destinies. The faults 
and imperfections inherent in the feudal system had pervaded all 
Europe, and crippled the power and the energies of government. 
The sovereigns, continually at war with their factious and power- 
ful vassals, could neither form plans of foreign conquest, nor carry 
them into execution ; and their military operations were in ge- 
neral without unity or effect. [Hence it happened, that in the 
middle ages, changes were produced in the different States, 
which so little alarmed their neighbours, that it may be said 
they were scarcely conscious of their existence. Such were the 
conquests of the English in France, which might certainly have 
compromised the independence of Europe.] 

A combination of causes and circumstances, both physical 
and moral, produced a revolution in the manners and govern- 
ments of most of the Continental States. The disorders of 
feudal anarchy gradually disappeared ; constitutions better or- 
ganized were introduced ; the temporary levies of vassals were 
succeeded by regular and permanent armies ; which contributed 
to humble the exorbitant power of the nobles and feudal barons. 
The consequence was, that States formerly weak and exhausted, 
acquired strength ; while their sovereigns, freed from the tur- 
bulence and intimidation of their vassals, began to extend their 
political views, and to form projects of aggrandizement and 
conquest. 

From this period the reciprocal influence of the European 
States on each other began to be manifest. Those who were 
afraid for their independence, would naturally conceive the idea 
of a balance of power capable of protecting them against the in 
roads of ambitious and warlike princes. Hence those frequent 
embassies and negotiations ; those treaties of alliance, subsidies, 
and guarantees ; those wars carried on by a general combina- 
tion of powers, who deemed themselves obliged to bear a part 
in the common cause ; and hence too those projects for establish- 
ing checks and barriers on each other, which occupied the dif- 
ferent courts of Europe. 

[The system of equilibrium or the balance of power, originated 
in Italy, That peninsula, separated from the rest of the continent 
by the sea and the Alps, had outstripped the other countries in 
the career of civilization. There a multitude of independent 



220 CHAPTER VII. 

States had been formed, unequal in point of power and extent ; 
but none of them had sufficient strength to resist the united 
power of the rest, or usurp dominion over them ; while at the same 
time, none of them Avere so contemptible in point of weakness, 
as not to be of some weight in the scale. Hence that rivalry and 
jealousy among them, which was incessantly watching over the 
progress of their neighbours ; and hence, too, a series of wars 
and confederacies, whose object was to maintain some degree of 
equality among them ; or at least a relative proportion, which 
might inspire the weaker with courage and confidence. The 
Popes who were exceedingly active in these transactions, em- 
ployed all their policy to prevent any foreign power from inter- 
fering, or establishing itself in Italy. The doctrine of political 
equilibrium passed the Alps about the end of the fifteenth cen- 
tury. The House of Austria, which had suddenly risen to a 
high pitch of grandeur, was the first against which its efl^orts 
were directed.] 

This House, which derived its origin from Rodolph of Haps- 
burg, who was elected Emperor of Germany towards the end of 
the thirteenth century, owed its greatness and elevation chiefly 
to the Imperial dignity, and the different family alliances which 
this same dignity procured it. Maximilian of Austria, son of 
the Emperor Frederic III., married Mary of Burgundy (1477,) 
daughter and heiress of Charles the Rash, last Duke of Bur- 
gundy. This alliance secured to Austria the whole of the Low 
Countries, including Franche-Comte, Flanders, and Artois. 
Philip the Fair, the son of this marriage, espoused the Infanta 
of Spain, daughter of Ferdinand and Isabella of Castille. They 
had two sons, Charles and Ferdinand, the former of whom, 
known in history by the name of Charles V., inherited the Low 
Countries in right of his father Philip (1506.) On the death of 
Ferdinand, his maternal grandfather (1516,) he became heir to 
the whole Spanish succession, which comprehended the king- 
doms of Spain, Naples, Sicily, and Sardinia, together with 
Spanish America. To these vast possessions were added his 
partimonial dominions in Austria, which were transmitted to 
him by his paternal grandfather the Emperor Maximilian I. 
About the same time (1519,) the Imperial dignity was conferred 
on this prince by the electors ; so that Europe had not seen, 
since the time of Charlemagne, a monarchy so powerful as that 
of Charles V. 

This Emperor concluded a treaty with his brother Ferdinand, 
by which he ceded to him all his hereditary possessions in Ger- 
many. The two brothers thus became the founders of the two 
principal branches of the House of Austria, viz. that of Spain, 



PERIOD VI. A. D. 1453—1648. 221 

<vhic;h began with Charles V., (called Charles I. of Spain.) and 
ended with Charles II. (1700;) and that of Germany, of which 
Ferdinand I. was the ancestor, and which became extinct in the 
male line in the Emperor Charles VI. (1740.) These two 
branches, closely allied to each other, acted in concert for the 
advancement of their reciprocal interests ; moreover they gained 
each their own separate advantages by the marriage connexions 
which they formed. Ferdinand I. of the German line, married 
Anne (1521,) sister of Louis Kino^ of Hungary and Bohemia, 
who having been slain by the Turks at the battle of Mohacs 
(1526,) these two kingdoms devolved to Ferdinand of the House 
of Austria. Finally, the marriage which Charles V. contracted 
with the Infant Isabella, daughter of Emmanuel, King of Por- 
tugal, procured Philip II. of Spain, the son of that marriage, 
the whole Portuguese monarchy, to which he succeeded on the 
death of Henry, called the Cardinal (1580.) So vast an ag 
grandizement of power alarmed the sovereigns of Europe, who 
began to suspect that the Austrian Princes, of the Spanish and 
(xerman line, aimed at universal monarchy. The unbounded 
ambition of Charles V., and his son Philip II., as well as that 
of Ferdinand IL, grandson of Ferdinand I., tended to confirm 
these suspicions ; and all felt the necessity of uniting to oppose 
a barrier to this overwhelming power. For a long time the 
whole policy of Europe, its wars and alliances, had no other 
object than to humble the ambition of one nation, whose pre- 
ponderance seemed to threaten the liberty and independence of 
the rest. 

[The system of political equilibrium, which from this period 
became the leading object of every European cabinet, until it 
was undermined by unjust and arbitrary interferences, and 
threatened to bury the independence of Europe in its ruins, did 
not aim at maintaining among the different states an equality 
of power or territorial possession. This would have been chi- 
merical. The object of this system was to maintain a perfect 
equality of rights, in virtue of which the weaker might enjoy 
in security all that they held by a just claim. It was purely a 
defensive and preservative system ; nor did it affect to put an 
end to all wars ; it was directed solely against the ambition and 
usurpation of conquerors. Its fundamental principle was to 
prevent any one state from acquiring sufficient power to resist 
the united efforts of the others.] 

France was the leading power that undertook the task of re- 
gulating the balance against the House of Austria. Francis I. 
and Henry II. used every effort to excite combinations against 
Charles V. Francis was the first sovereign in Europe that 



222 CHAPTER VU. 

entered into treaties of alliance with the Turks against Austria ; 
and in this way the Porte was, to a certain extent, amalgamated 
with the political system of Europe. So long as their object 
was to subvert the feudal aristocracy, and the Protestant rel'- 
gjon in France, Francis and Henry were strenuous defenders 
of the Germanic system, and extended their protection to tlie 
sovereigns of the Protestant States of the Empire, under the 
persuasion that all Europe would bend to the Austrian yoke, if 
the Emperors of that House should succeed in rendering theii 
power absolute and hereditary in the Empire. Henry IV. 
Louis XIII., and the Cardinals Richelieu and Mazarin, adopted 
the same line of policy.'' They joined in league with the 
Protestant Princes, and armed by turns the greater part of Eu- 
rope against Austria, and the Emperor Ferdinand II., whose 
ambitious designs threatened to subvert the constitution of the 
Empire. This was the grand motive for the famous Thirty 
Years' War. which was put an end to by the treaties of West- 
phaha (1648,) and of the Pyrenees (1659.) France succeeded, 
not however without prodigious efforts, in .supporting the ba- 
lance against Austria; while the federative system of the 
Empire, consolidated by the former of these treaties, and gua- 
ranteed by France and Sweden, became a sort of artificial bar- 
rier, for preserving the equilibrium and the general tranquillity 
of Europe* 

It was during this period that almost every kingdom in Eu- 
rope changed their condition, and assumed, by degrees, the form 
which they have still retained. The German Empire continued 
to experience those calamities to which every government is 
exposed, when its internal springs have lost their vigour and 
activity. Private wars and feuds, which the laws authorized, 
were then regarded as the chief bulwark of the national liberty ; 
the noblesse and the petty states in general, knew no other jus- 
lice than what the sword dispensed. Oppression, rapine and 
violence, were become universal ; commerce languished ; and 
the different provinces of the Empire presented one melan- 
choly scene of ruin and desolation. The expedients that were 
tried to remedy these disorders, the truces, the treaties (called 
the Peace of God,) and the different confederacies of the Im- 
perial states, served only to palliate, but not to cure the evil. 
The efforts which some of the Emperors made to establish the 
public tranquillity on some solid basis, proved equally abortive. 

It was not until near the end of the fifteenth century that the 
states of the Empire, impressed with juster notions of govern- 
iTient and civil subordination, consented to the total and entire 
abolition of feuds and intestine wars Thi? was accomplished 



PERIOD VL A. 1 . 1453 — 164a 223 

under the reigTi of Maximilian I., by the Perpetual Publir. 
Peece, drawn up at the Diet of Worms in 1495. All violent 
means of redress among the members of the Germanic Body 
were rigorously interdicted ; and all who had any complaints^ to 
make against each other, were enjoined to apply to the regula- 
courts of justice. This ordinance of the Public Peace, which 
was afterwards renewed and enlarged in several diets, has been 
regarded, since that time, as one of the principal and funda- 
mental laws of the Empire. 

The establishment of the Public Peace rendered a reforma- 
tion necessary in the administration of justice, which had long 
been in a languid and disordered state. For this purpose, the 
Imperial Chamber, which sat at first at Spire, and was after- 
wards transferred to Wetzlar, was instituted at the Diet ot 
Worms (1495.) Its object was to judge of any differences that 
might arise among the immediate members of the Germanic 
body ; as also to receive any appeals that might be referred to 
them from the subordinate tribunals. It was composed of a 
chief or head, called the Judge of the Chamber, and of a cer- 
tain number of assessors chosen from among the jurists and 
independent nobility. The institution of the Aulic Council, 
another sovereign court of the Empire, followed soon after that 
of the Imperial Chamber. Its origin is generally referred to 
the Diet of Cologne (1512.) Of the same date also is the plan 
which they adopted of dividing the Empire into ten Circles, as 
a proper expedient for maintaining the public peace, and faci- 
litating the execution of the sentences of the two Imperial 
Courts. Over each of these circles were placed princes, direc- 
tors, and colonels, whose duty it was to superintend and com- 
mand the troops of their respective districts. 

The custom of Imperial Capitulations was introduced at the 
lime of the accession of Charles V. to the Imperial throne (1519.'^ 
The Electors, apprehensive of the formidable power of that 
prince, thought proper to limit it by a capitulation, which they 
made him sign and solemnly swear to observe. This compact 
between the new Emperor and the Electors, renewed under every 
subsequent reign, has been always considered as the grand char- 
ter of the liberties of the Germanic body. 

The dissensions on the score of religion that happened about 
the beginning of the sixteenth century, gave rise to a long series 
of troubles and civil wars, which proved of advantage to the 
House of Austria, by the confirmation of their power in the Em- 
pire. The first of these is known by the name of the war of 
Smalcalden, of which the following is a brief sketch. The Ep- 
peror Charles V.. in the first diet which he held at Worms (527,) 



224 CHAPTER VII. 

had issued an edict of pi oscription against Luther and his adhe- 
rents, ordaining that they should be treated as enemies of the 
Empire, and prosecuted to the utmost rigour of the law. The 
execution of this edict was incessantly urged by the Emperor 
and the Pope's legates, until the whole Empire was in a stale of 
combustion. The Catholic princes, at the instigation of Cardi- 
nal Campeggio, assembled at Ratisbonne (1524,) and there 
adopted measures of extreme rigour, for putting the edict into 
execution within their respective states. The case was by no 
means the same with the princes and states who adhered to the 
Reformation, or who gave it their protection. To apply the con- 
ditions of the edi;_t to them, it would have been necessary to 
come to a civil war, which the more prudent members of the 
Germanic body sought to avoid. This religious schism was still 
more aggravated at the Diet of Augsburg, where the Emperoi 
issued a decree, condemning the Confession of Faith which the 
Protestant princes had presented to him. This decree limited a 
time within which they were commanded, in so far as regarded 
the articles in dispute, to conform to the doctrines of the Catholic 
Church. Thus urged to extremities, the Protestant leaders de- 
termined to assemble at Smalcalden before the end of this very 
year (1530,) where they laid the foundation of a Union, or de- 
fensive alliance, which was afterwards renewed at different times. 
John Frederic, Elector of Saxony, and Philip, Landgrave of 
Hesse, declared themselves chiefs of this Union. In opposition 
to this confederacy, the Catholic princes instituted the Holy 
League; so called because its object was the defence of the 
Catholic religion. 

Every thing seemed to announce a civil war, when a new 
irruption of the Turks into Hungary and Austria, induced the 
Catholics to sign, at Nuremberg (1530,) a truce, or accommoda- 
tion, with the princes of the Union ; in virtue of which, a peace 
between the states of the two religions was concluded, and ap- 
proved by the Emperor ; to continue till a General Council, or 
some new assembly should decide otherwise. This peace was 
renewed in various subequent assemblies. The Protestant 
princes, however, still persisted in their refusal to acknowledge 
the authority of Councils convoked by the Popes ; and their 
confederacy daily receiving new accessions, the Emperor, after 
having made peace with France, at Crepy (1544,) and concluded 
an armistice of five years with the Turks, resolved to declare 
war against these schismatics, who, presuming on their union 
and their amicable relations with foreign powers, thought them- 
selves capable of dictating laws to the Empire. He issued an 
edict of proscription (1546) against the Elector of Saxony and 




Landing of Columbus. P. 2uy. 




Luther burning the Pope's Bull. P. 215. 



PERIOD VI. A. D. 1453—1648. 225 

the Landgrave of Hesse, the two chiefs of the Union ; and 
having entered into a secret alliance with Duke Maurice, a 
younger branch of the family of Saxony, and a near relation of 
the Elector, he succeeded in transferring the theatre of war from 
the Danube to the Elbe. The Elector being defeated by the 
Emperor, in an action which took place at Mecklenburg (1547,) 
fell into the hands of the conqueror ; and the Landgrave of Hesse 
met with the same fate two months after. The Union of Smal- 
calden was then dissolved, and the Emperor, who now saw him- 
self master of Germany, assembled a Diet at Augsburg, in which 
he acted the part of a dictator. A large detachment of his troops, 
billeted on the city, served as his body guard, while the rest of 
his army was encamped in the neighbourhood. At this diet, he 
conferred on Duke Maurice the Electorate of Saxony, of which 
he had deprived his prisoner, John Frederick. The investiture 
of the new Elector took place at Augsburg (1548;) and what 
deserves to be particularly remarked in this diet is, that the Em- 
peror entered into a scheme for the entire ruin and extirpation 
of Protestantism, by compelling the princes and states of the 
JReformation to rejoin the Catholic Church, by means of a formula 
which he made them adopt, known by the name of the Interim ; 
and which, by its preliminary arrangement, allowed them only 
the use of the communion in both kinds, and the marriage of 
their priests, until the whole matter should be decided by a 
Council. 

The victories of Charles V., which seemed to have made him 
absolute master of the Empire, were soon followed by reverses, 
which eclipsed all the former glory of his reign. The Elector 
Maurice, though indebted to him for his new dignity, thought 
he mig-ht take advantage of the distressed condition to which 
that prince was reduced by the low state of his finances, to make 
a new attempt to limit his authority, and restore the Protestant 
religion. With this view, having inlisted some of the princes 
of the Empire in his cause, and concluded a secret treaty with 
Henry IL of France, at Chambord, he marched with such rapi- 
dity against the Emperor, that he nearly srurprised him at Ins- 
pruck, and obliged him to have recourse to the mediation of his 
brother Ferdinand, when a treaty was concluded with Maurice, 
which was signed at Passau (1552.) There the liberty of the 
Protestant worship was sanctioned ; and it was agreed that a 
General Council should be summoned to draw up the articles of 
a solid and permanent peace between the states of both religions. 

This diet, which was long retarded by political events, did ivot 
assemble at Augsburg till the year 1555. There a definitive 
peace was concluded on the subject o( religian, and it was or- 

15 



226 CHAPTER VII. 

dained that both Protestant and Catholic states should enjoy a 
perfect liberty of worship ; and that no reunion should ever be 
attempted by any other than amicable means. The seculari- 
zing of the ecclesiastical revenues, which the Protestant princes 
had introduced into their states, was ratified; but there was 
one of the articles of the treaty which expressly provided, that 
every prelate or churchman, who renounced his ancient faith to 
embrace the Confession of Augsburg, should lose his benefice. 
This latter clause, known by the name of Ecclesiastical Reserve, 
did not pass but with the most determined opposition. 

Differences of more kinds than one sprung from this treaty of 
peace, — the articles of which each party interpreted to their own 
advantage. Hence those stratagems which at length occasioned 
a new war — that of the Thirty Years. The Protestant Princes 
and States, wishing to provide for their own security, and to put 
an end to those arbitrary measures, of which they thought they 
had reason to complain, assembled at Heilbrunn (1594,) and 
there laid the foundation of a new \inion, which was confirmed 
in the assemblies held at Halle, in Suabia, in the years 1608 
and 1610. The chief promoter of this union was Henry IV. of 
France, who designed to use it as a check on the ambition of the 
House of Austria ; and as a means for carrying into execution 
the grand project which he meditated with regard to the pacifi- 
cation of Europe. He concluded an alliance with the Princes 
of the Union, and determined the number of troops to be furnish- 
ed by each of the contracting parties. The Catholic princes and 
States, afraid of being taken unawares, renewed their League, 
which they signed at Wurtzburg (1609.) The rich dutchy of 
Juliers, which had become vacant this same year, was contested 
by several claimants ; and as Austria was equally desirous of 
possessing it, this was made the occasion of raising powerful 
armies in France, Germany, Italy, and the Low Countries. A 
considerable number of troops had already taken the field, about 
the beginning of the year 1610, when the unexpected death of 
Henry IV. disconcerted all their measures. This changed the 
poUtics of the French court, and also induced the Princes of the 
Union to conclude a treaty with the League, — the articles of 
which were signed at Munich and Wildstett (1610.) 

In this manner the resentment of both parties was suspended 
for the moment ; but the cause of their disunion still remained, 
which at length (1618) kindled a war that extended from Bohe- 
mia over all Germany, and involved, in course of time, a great 
part of Europe. The history of this tedious war, in which poli- 
tics had as great a share as zeal for religion, may he divided into 
four principal periods, namely, the Palatine, 'the Danish, the 



PERIOD VI. A. D. 1453—1648. 227 

Swedish, and the French Avar. Frederick V., Elector Palatine, 
and head of the Protestant Union, having been raised to the 
throne by the Bohemian States (1619,) which had rebelled 
against the Emperor Ferdinand II., engaged in a war with that 
prince ; but being deserted by his allies, and defeated at the bat- 
tle of Prague (1620,) he was driven from Bohemia, and stripped 
of all his dominions. The victorious arms of Austria soon ex- 
tended their conquests over a great part of the Empire. 

Christian IV., King of Denmark, who was in alliance with 
most of the Protestant princes, next undertook the defence of the 
federal system ,* but he was not more fortunate than the Elector 
Palatine had been. Being defeated by Tilly, at the famous bat- 
tle of Lutter (1626,) he was compelled to abandon the cause of 
his allies, and to sign a separate peace with the Emperor at 
Lubeck (1629.) Gustavus Adolphus, King of Sweden, pursued 
the career of the Danish monarch. Encouraged by France, he 
put himself at the head of the Protestant princes, with the view 
of checking the ambitious projects of Ferdinand II., who, by 
means of his general, Wallenstein, whom he had created Duke 
of Friedland, and invested in the Dutchy of Mecklenburg, was 
dictating the law to the whole Empire, and even threatening 
the kingdoms of the North. Nothing could be more splendid 
than the campaigns of the Swedish hero in Germany, and the 
victories which he obtained at Leipsic (1631,) and Lutzen(1632 ;) 
but having been slain in the latter action, the affairs of the 
Swedes began to decline ; and they were totally ruined by the 
defeat which they sustained at Nordlingen (1634.) From that 
time the Elector of Saxony, John George I., renounced the al- 
liance of Sweden ; and in yielding up Lusace to the Emperor, 
he consented to a separate treaty of peace, which was signed at 
Prague (1635.) 

It was at this period that France, which till then had but fee- 
bly supported the Swedes and the Protestant Princes, thought 
it of advantage to her interests to undertake their defence against 
Austria. Having declared war against Spain, she marched 
numerous armies at once into Italy, Spain, Germany, and the 
Low Countries. Bernard, Prince of Saxe Weimar, and the three 
French Generals, Guebrieint, Turenne, and the Duke d'Enghien, 
signalized themselves by their exploits in the Imperial war ; 
while the disciples of Gustavus Adolphus, Banier, Torstenston, 
and Wrangel, distinguished themselves at the head of the Swe- 
dish armies, in the various campaigns Avhich took place, from 
the year 1635 till the conclusion of the peace. Never were ne- 
gotiations more tedious or more complicated than those which 
preceded the treaty of Westphalia. The preliminaries were 



228 CHAPTER VII. 

signed at Hamburgh in 1641 ; but the opening of the Congress 
at Munster and Osnaburg, did not take place till 1644. The 
Counts D'Avaux and Servien, the plenipotentiaries of France, 
shared with Oxenstiern and Salvius, the Swedish Envoys, the 
principal glory of this negotiation, which was protracted on pur- 
pose, as the belligerent powers were daily expecting to see the 
events of the war change in their favour. It was not until the 
24th of October 1648, that the peace was finally signed at Mun- 
ster and Osnaburg. 

This peace, Avhich was renewed in every subsequent treaty, 
and made a fundamental law of the Empire, fixed definitively 
the constitution of the Germanic Body. The territorial rights 
of the states, known by the name of superiority — the privilege 
of making alliances with each other, and with foreign powers — 
and advising with the Emperor at the Diets, in every thing that 
concerned the general administration of the Empire, were con- 
firmed to them in the most authentic manner, and guaranteed 
by the consent of foreign powers. As to ecclesiastical affairs, 
the Religious Peace of 1555 was confirmed anew, and extended 
to those who were known by the name of the Reforrned, or Cal- 
vinists. The state of religion, the forms of public worship, and 
the enjoyment of ecclesiastical benefices, throughout the whole 
Empire, were regulated according to the decree, called Uti 
possidetis of the 1st of January 1624, which was termed the 
normal, or decretory year. In this treaty, France obtained, by 
way of indemnity, the sovereignty of the three bishoprics, Metz, 
Toul, and Verdun, as well as that of Alsace. The compensa- 
tion of the other parties interested, was settled in a great mea- 
sure at the expense of the Church, and by means of secularizing 
several bishoprics and ecclesisastical benefices. 

Besides Pomerania and the city of Wismar, Sweden got the 
archbishopric of Bremen, and the bishopric of Verden. To the 
House of Brandeburg, they assigned Upper Pomerania, the 
archbishopric of Magdeburg, the bishoprics of Halberstadt, Min- 
den, and Camin. The House of Mecklenburg received, in lieu 
of the city of Wismar, the bishoprics of Schwerin and Ratzeburg. 
The princely abbey of Hirschfeld was adjudged to the Land- 
grave of Hesse-Cassel, and the choice of the bishopric of Osna- 
burg, to the House of Brunswick-Luneburg. An eighth Elec- 
iorate was instituted in favour of the Elector Palatine, whom 
the Emperor, during the war, had divested of his dignity, which, 
with the Upper Palatinate, he had conferred on the Duke of 
Bavaria. 

The greater part of the provinces known by the name of the 
Low Countries, made part of the ancient kingdom of Lorraine 



PERIOD VI. A. D. 1453—1648. 229 

which had been united to the German Empire since the tenth 
century. The principal of these had been acquired by the Dukes 
of Burgundy, who made them over, with other estates, to the 
House of Austria (1477.) Charles V. added the provinces of 
Friesland, Groningen, and Gueldres, to the states to which he 
and succeeded in Burgundy. He united the seventeen pro- 
vinces of the Low Countries into one and the same government ; 
and ordered, by the Pragmatic decree which he published (1549,) 
th it they should never henceforth be disunited. This same 
prince, at the diet of Augsburg (1548,) entered into a negotia- 
tion with the Germanic Body, in virtue of which he consented 
to put these provinces under their protection ; under condition 
of their observing the public peace, and paying into the exche- 
quer of the Empire double the contribution of an Electorate. 
He guaranteed to the princes of the Low Countries a vote and 
a seat at the Diet, as chiefs of the circle of Burgundy. These 
provinces, moreover, were to be considered as free and indepen- 
deth sovereignties, without being subject to the jurisdiction either 
of the Empire or of the Imperial Chamber, who were not au- 
thorized to proceed against them, except when they were found 
in arrears with the payment of their contingent, or when they 
infringed the law of the public peace. 

Charles V. having transferred these countries to his son, 
Philip IL of Spain, they were then incorporated with the Span- 
ish monarchy ; and it was under the reign of this latter prince 
that those troubles began which gave rise to the Republic of the 
United Provinces of the Low Countries. The true origin of 
these troubles is to be found in the despotism of Philip IL, and 
in his extravagant and fanatical zeal for the Catholic religion. 
This prince, the declared enemy of the rights and liberties of 
the Belgic Provinces, was mortified to witness the religious pri- 
vileges which they enjoyed ; under favour of which the doc- 
trines of the Reformation were daily making new progress. 
Being resolved to extirpate this new faith, together with the 
political liberties which served to protect it, he introduced the 
tribunal of the Inquisition (1559,) as the most sure and infalli- 
ble support of despotism. With the consent and authority of 
Pope Paul IV., he suppressed, for this purpose, the metropolitan 
and diocesan rights which the archbishops and bishops of the 
Empire and of France had exercised in the Low Countries ; he 
instituted three new bishoprics at Utrecht, Cambray, and Mech- 
lin ; and under their jurisdiction he put thirteen new bishoprics 
which he had erected, besides those of Arras and Tournay. 
Having in this way augmented the number of his satellites in 
the assembly of the States-General, he suppressed a great mul- 

voL. I. 20 



230 CHAPTER VU. 

titude of abbeys and monasteries, the revenues of which he ap- 
plied to the endowment of his newly made bishoprics. 

These innovations, added to the publication of the decree? oi 
the Council of Trent, according to his orders, excited a very 
general discontent. The repeated remonstrances on the pan 
of the States, having produced no effect on the inflexible mind 
of Philip, the nobility took the resolution of formmg a confe- 
deracy at Breda, known by the name of the Compromise. The 
confederates drew up a request, which was addressed lo Mar- 
garet of Austria, the natural daughter of Charles V., and Re- 
gent of the Low Countries, under the King of Spain. Four 
hundred gentlemen, headed by Henry de Brederode, a descen- 
dant of the ancient Counts of Holland, and Louis of Nassau, 
brother to the Prince of Orange, repaired to Brussels (1566,) 
and there presented this request, which may be considered as 
the commencement of the troubles in the Low Countries. It 
was on this account that the name of Gueux or Beggars was 
given to the Confederates, which has become so famous in the 
history of these wars. 

About this same time, the populace collected in mobs in seve- 
ral towns of the Low Countries, and fell upon the churches and 
monasteries ; and having broken down their altars and images, 
ihey introduced the exercise of the Protestant religion by force. 
The storm, however, was calmed ; the Catholic worship was 
re-established every where ; and the confederacy of the nobles 
dissolved, several of whom, distrustful of this apparent tran- 
quillity, retired to foreign countries. William Prince of Orange, 
Louis of Nassau, the Counts de Culemburg and Berg, and the 
Count de Brederode, were in the number of these emigrants. 
Philip n., instead of adopting measures of moderation and 
clemency, according to the advice of the Regent, was deter- 
mined to avenge, in the most signal manner, this outrage against 
his religion and the majesty of his throne. He sent the famous 
Duke of Alba or Alva into the Low Countries, at the head of an 
army of 20,000 men (1567.) The Regent then gave in her re- 
signation. A general terror overspread the country. Vast 
numbers of manufacturers and merchants took refuge in Eng- 
land, carrying along with them their arts and theii indi>stry. 
Hence the commerce and manufactures of the Low Countries, 
which had formerly been the most flourishing in Europe, fell 
entirely into decay. 

The Duke of Alva, immediately on his arrival, established a 
tribunal or court, for investigating the excesses that had been 
committed during these commotions. This council, which the 
Flemings called the " Council of Blood," informed against all 



PERIOD VI. A. D. 1453—1648. 231 

those who had been in any way concerned with the Gueux or 
BegijUrs, who had frequented their preachings, contributed to 
the support of their ministers or the building of their churches ; 
or harboured and protected these heretics, either directly, or in- 
directly. Before this council, whose only judges were the 
Duke of Alva and his confidant John de Vargas, were cited 
high and low, without distinction ; and all those whose wealth 
excited their cupidity. There they instituted proceedings against 
the absent and the present, the dead and the living, and con- 
fiscated their goods. Eighteen thousand persons perished by 
the hands of the executioner, and more than 30,000 others were 
entirely ruined. Among the number of those illustrious vic- 
tims of Alva's cruelty, were the Counts Egmont and Horn, who 
were both beheaded. Their execution excited a general in- 
dignation, and was the signal of revolt and civil war throughout 
the Low Countries. 

The Beggars, who seemed almost forgotten, began to revive ; 
and were afterwards distinguished into three kinds. All the 
malcontents, as well as the adherents of Luther and Calvin, 
were called simply by this name. Those were called Beggars 
of the Woods, who concealed themselves in the forests and 
marshes ; never sallying forth but in the night, to commit all 
sorts of excesses. Lastly, the Maritime or Marine Beggar's, 
were those who employed themselves in piracy ; infesting the 
coasts, and making descenis on the country. 

It was in this situation of affairs that the Prince of Orange, 
one of the richest proprietors in the Low Countries, assisted by 
his brother the Counts of Nassau, assembled different bodies of 
troops in the Empire, with which he attacked the Low Coun- 
tries in several places at once (1668.) Failing in these first 
attempts, he soon changed his plan ; and associating the Marine 
Beggars in the cause, he ventured to attack the Spaniards by 
sea. The Beggars, encouraged by that Prince, and William 
Count de la Mark, surnamed the Boar of Ardennes, took the 
city of Brille by surprise (1572,) situated in the Isle of Voorn, 
and regarded as the stronghold of the new republic of the Bel- 
gic Provinces. The capture of the port of Brille caused a re- 
volution in Zealand. All the cities of that province, except 
Middleburg, opened their gates to the Beggars ; and their ex- 
ample was followed by most of the towns in Holland. An as- 
sembly of the States of this latter province met this same year 
at Dort, where they laid the foundation of their new republic. 
The Prince of Orange was there declared Stadtholder or Go- 
vernor of the provinces of Holland, Zealand, Friesland, and 
Utrecht ; and they agreed never to treat with the Spaniards, ex- 



232 



CHAPTER VII. 



cept by common consent. The public exercise of the reformed 
religion was introduced, according to the form of Geneva. 

This rising republic became more firmly established in con- 
sequence of several advantages which the Confederates had 
gained over the Spaniards, whose troops being badly paid, at 
length mutinied ; and breaking out into the greatest disorders, 
they pillaged several cities, among others Antwerp, and laid 
waste the whole of the Low Countries. The States-General, 
then assembled at Brussels, implored the assistance of the Prince 
of Orange and the Confederates. A negotiation was then 
opened at Ghent (1576,) between the States of Brussels, and 
those of Holland and Zealand ; where a general union, known 
by the name of the Pacification of Ghent, was signed. They 
engaged mutually to assist each other, with the view of expelling 
the Spanish troops, and never more permitting them to enter the 
Low Countries. The Confederates, who were in alliance with 
Queen Elizabeth of England, pursued the Spaniards every 
where, who soon saw themselves reduced to the single provinces 
of Luxemburg, Limburg, and Namur. 

They were on the point of being expelled from these also, 
when the government of the Low Countries was intrusted to 
Alexander Farnese, Prince of Parma. Equally distinguished as 
a politician and a warrior, this Prince revived the Spanish inte- 
rests. Taking advantage of the dissensions which had arisen 
among the Confederates from the diversity of their religious 
opinions, he again reduced the provinces of Flanders, Artois, 
and Hainault, under the Spanish dominion. He took the city 
of Maastricht by assault, and entered into a negotiation with 
the States-General of the Low Countries at Cologne, under the 
mediation of the Emperor Rodolph IL, the Pope, and some of 
the princes of the Empire. This negotiation proved unsuccess- 
ful ; but the Prince of Orange, foreseeing that the general con- 
federacy could not last, conceived the plan of a more intimate 
union among the Provinces ; which he regarded as the most fit 
to make head against the Spaniards. He fixed on the maritime 
provinces, such as Holland, Zealand, and Friesland ; and above 
all, on those whom the same religious creed, viz. the Calvinistic, 
had attached to the same interests. The commerce of Hol- 
land, and Zealand, and Friesland, began to make new progress 
daily. Amsterdam was rising on the ruins of Antwerp. The 
flourishing state of their marine rendered these provinces for- 
midable by sea ; and gave them the means not only of repelling 
the efforts of the Spaniards, but even of protecting the neigh- 
bouring provinces which might join this Union. Such were the 
motives which induced the Prince of Orange to form the special 



PERIOD. VI. A. D. 1453—1648. 2:« 

confederacy of the Seven Provinces, the basis of which he laid 
by the famous treaty of Union concluded at Utrecht (1579.) 
That Union was there declared perpetual and indissoluble ; and 
it was agreed that the Seven Provinces, viz. those of Gueldres, 
Holland, Zealand, Utrecht, Overyssel, Friesland, and Groningen, 
should henceforth be considered as one and the same Province 
Each of these, nevertheless, was guaranteed in the possession of 
their rights and privileges — that is, their absolute superiority in 
every thing regarding their own internal administration. 

[We may remark, however, that these insurrectionary pro- 
vinces had not originally the design of forming a republic. 
Their intention, at first, was only to maintain their political pri- 
vileges ; and they did not absolutely shake oflT the Spanish 
authority until they despaired of reconciliation. Moreover, they 
repeatedly offered the sovereignty of their States to different 
foreign princes ; and it was not till the Union of Utrecht that 
the Seven Provinces became a federal republic. Consequently 
every thing remained on its ancient footing ; and some of the 
provinces even retained their Stadtholders or governors, at the 
head of their administration. Hence that mixture of monarchy, 
aristocracy, and democracy, which prevailed in these countries ; 
and hence, too, the feeble tie which united them with each other, 
and which would probably have speedily broken, if Holland had 
not, by its riches and its power, obtained an influence and pre- 
ponderance which maintained the Union.] 

The declaration of the independence of the United Provinces 
did not take place till 15S1 ; when the Prince of Orange induced 
the States-General to make a formal proclamation of it, out of 
revenge for the furious edicts of proscription Avhich the Court of 
Spain had issued against him. The Prince, however, was assas- 
sinated at Delft in 1584 -p and the Spaniards took advantage of 
the consternation which this event had spread among the Con- 
federates, to reconquer most of the provinces of the Low Coun- 
tries. The general Confederacy languished away by degrees ; 
and the Union of Utrecht was the only one maintained among 
the Seven Provinces. This new republic, which was in strict 
alliance with England, not only made head against the Spaniards, 
but gained a considerable increase of strength by the vast num- 
bers of refugees from the different Belgic provinces, who took 
shelter there ; as well as from France, where the persecution 
still raged violently against the Protestants. It is calculated 
that after the taking of Antwerp by the Prince of Parma in 
1585, above a hundred thousand of these fugitives transported 
themselves to Holland and Amsterdam, carrying with them their 
wealth and their industry. 

20* 



I! 



I ! 



I ; 



2Ii4 CHAPTER I, 

From this dale the commerce of the Confederate States in- 
creased every day ; and in 1595 they extended it as far as India 
and the Eastern Seas. The Dutch India Company was estab- 
lished in 1602. Besides the exclusiye commerce of India, which 
was guaranteed to them by their charter, they became likewise 
a political body, under the sovereignty of the States-General of 
the United Provinces. Supported by a formidable marine, they 
acquired vast influence in the East by their conquests over the 
Portuguese, whom they dispossessed by degrees of all their 
principal establishments in India. The Spaniards, finding their 
efforts to reduce the Confederates by force of arms ineffectual, 
set on foot a negotiation at Antwerp (1609,) under the media- 
tion of France and England ; in consequence of which, a truce 
of twelve years was concluded between Spain and the United 
Provinces. It was chiefly during this time that the Confede- 
rates extended their commerce over all parts of the globe, while 
their marine daily increased in strength and importance ; which 
soon raised them to the rank of being the second maritime power, 
and gave them a decisive influence over the political affairs of 
Europe. 

At the expiration of this truce, hostilities were renewed with 
Spain. The Dutch carried on the war for twenty-five years 
with great glory, under the auspices of their Stadtholders, 
Maurice and Henry Frederic, Fiinces of Orange, who discovered 
great military talents. One event, which proved favourable for 
the Republicans, was the war that broke out between France 
and Spain, and which was followed by a strict alliance between 
France and the States-General. The partition of the Spanish 
Netherlands was settled by this treaty ; and the allied powers 
entered into an engagement never to make peace or truce with 
Spain, except by common consent. This latter clause, however, 
did not prevent the States-General from concluding at Munster 
a separate peace with Spain, to the exclusion of France (1648.) 
By this peace the King of Spain acknowledged the United Pro- 
vinces as free and independent States ; he gave up to them all 
the places which they had seized in Brabant, Flanders and Lim- 
fiurg, viz. Bois-le-Duc, Bergen-op-Zoom, Breda, and Maestricht •. 
as also their possessions in the East and West Indies, in Asia 
Africa, and America. The closing of the Scheld, which was 
granted in favour of the United Provinces, entirely ruined the 
city of Antwerp, and shut out the Spanish Netherlands from all 
maritime commerce. 

The feudal system of the Swiss, which had originated in the 
tourteenth century, acquired a new importance towards the end 
ot the fifteenth, by reason of the success of the confederates in 



1 > 



PERIOD VI. A. D. 1453—1648. 235 

their war with Charles Duke of Burgundy. This prince, who 
was of a hot and turbulent spirit, was constantly occupied with 
projects of conquest. Taking advantage of the ruinous state of 
the finances of the Archduke Sigismund of Austria, he induced 
him to sell him the territories of Brisgau and Alsace, with the 
right of repurchase (1469.) Peter de Hagenbach, a gentleman 
of Alsace, who had been appointed governor of these countries 
by the Duke, had oppressed the Austrian subjects, and harassed 
the whole neighbouring states ; especially the Swiss. The 
complaints which were made on this score to the Duke, living 
only rendered Hagenbach still more insolent, the Swiss, with 
the concurrence of several states of the Empire, paid down, at 
Basle, the sums stipulated in the contract for repurchasing the 
two provinces ; and, by force of arms, they re-established the 
Austrian prince in the possession of Alsace and Brisgau. They 
even went so far as to institute legal proceedings against Hagen- 
bach, who was in consequence beheaded at Brisach in 1474. 

The Duke, determined to avenge this insult, assembled an 
army of a hundred thousand men, with which he penetrated 
through Franche-Comte into Switzerland. He was defeated in 
the first action, which took place at Granson (1476;) after 
which he reinforced his troops, and laid siege to Morat. Here 
he was again attacked by the Swiss, who killed eighteen thou- 
sand of his men, and seized the whole of his camp and baggage. 
The Duke of Lorraine, an ally of the Swiss, was then restored 
to those states of which the Duke of Burgundy had deprived 
him. This latter prince, in a great fury, came and laid siege to 
Nancy. The Swiss marched to the relief of this place, where 
they fought a third and last battle with the Duke, who was here 
defeated and slain (1477.) 

These victories of the Swiss over the Duke of Burgundy, one 
of the most powerful princes of his time, raised the fame of their 
arms ; and made their friendship and alliance courted by the 
first sovereigns in Europe, especially by France. Their con- 
federacy, which had formerly been composed of only eight can- 
tons, was augmented by the accession of two new states, Friburg 
and Soleure, which were enrolled in the number of cantons. 

From this time the Swiss were no longer afraid to break the 
ties that bound them to the Germanic Body, as members of the 
ancient kingdom of Aries. The Diet of Worms, in 1495, having 
granted the Emperor Maximilian succours against the French 
and the Turks, the Swiss alleged their immunities, and their 
alliance with France, as a pretext for refusing their contingent 
of supplies. This demand, however, was renewed at the Diet 
of Lindau, in 1496, which required them to renounce their alii* 



236 CHAPTEK VU- 

ance with France, and accede to the League of Swabia ; as also 
to submit themselves to the Imperial Chamber, and the law of 
the public peace ; and to furnish their quota for the support of 
that Chamber, and the other contributions of the Empire. All 
these demands were resisted by the Helvetic Body, who regard- 
ed them as contrary to their rights and privileges. Meantime 
the Grisons had allied themselves with the Swiss, in order to 
obtain their protection under the existing differences between 
them and the Tyrolese. 

The Emperor Maximilian seized this pretext for making war 
against the Cantons. Being desirous of vindicating the dignity 
of the Empire, which had been outraged by the Swiss, and of 
avenging the insults offered to his own family, he stirred up the 
League of Swabia to oppose them ; and attacked them in diffe- 
rent points at once. Eight battles were fought in succession, in 
course of that campaign ; all of which, with one solitary excep- 
tion, were in favour of the Swiss, while the Imperialists lost more 
than twenty thousand men. Maximilian and his allies, the Swa- 
bian League, then came to the resolution of making their peace 
with the Cantons, which was concluded at Basle (1499.) Both 
parties made a mutual restitution of what they had wrested from 
each other ; and it was agreed, that the differences between the 
Emperor, as Count of Tyrol, and the Grisons, should be brought 
to an amicable termination. This peace forms a memorable era 
in the history of the Helvetic Confederacy, whose independence, 
with regard to the German Emperor, Avas from that time con- 
sidered as decided ; although no mention of this was made in the 
treaty, and although the Swiss still continued for some time to 
request from the Emperors the confirmation of their immunities. 
Two immediate cities of the Empire, those of Basle and Schauff- 
hausen, took occasion, from these latter events, to solicit their 
admission into the Confederacy. They were received as allies, 
under the title of Cantons (1501 ;) and the territory of Appenzel, 
which was admitted in like manner (1513,) formed the thirteenth 
and last Canton. 

The alliance which the Swiss had kept up with France, since 
the reigns of Charles "VII. and Louis XL, tended greatly to se- 
cure the independence of the Helvetic Body.^ This alliance, 
which Louis XI. had made an instrument for humbling the 
power of the Duke of Burgundy, was never but once broken, in 
the reign of Louis XII., on account of the Holy League, into 
which the Swiss were drawn by the intrigues of the Bishop of 
Sion (1512.) The French were then expelled from the Milan- 
ese territory by the Swiss, who placed there the Duke Maximi- 
lian Sforza. It was in gratitude for this service, that the duke 



PERIOD VI. A. D. 1453 — 164S. 237 

ceded to the Swiss, by a treaty which was concluded at Basle, 
the four bailiwicks of Lugano, Locarno, Mendrisio, and Val- 
Maggio, which he dismembered from the Milanois. Though 
conquerors at the battle of Novara, the Swiss experienced a san- 
guinary defeat at Marignano; when they judged it for their in- 
terest to renew, their alliance with France (1513.) A treaty of 
perpetual peace was signed at Friburg between these two States 
(1516,) which was soon after followed by a new treaty of alli- 
ance, concluded with Francis L at Lucerne (1521,) and regularly 
renewed under the subsequent reigns. 

The change which took place in religion, at the beginning of 
the sixteenth century, extended its influence to Switzerland, 
where it kindled the flame of civil discord. Four cantons, those 
of Zurich, Berne, SchaufThausen, and Basle, renouncing entirely 
the Romish faith, had embraced the doctrines of Zuingle and 
Calvin ; while two others, viz. Glaris and Appenzel, were divi- 
ded between the old and the new opinions. The Reformation 
having likewise found its way into the common bailiwicks, the 
Catholic Cantons rose in opposition to it (1531 ;) denying liber- 
ty of conscience to the inhabitants. Hence, a war arose be- 
tween the Cantons of the two religions ; which, however, was 
terminated the same year by a treaty of peace, guaranteeing to 
such parishes within the bailiwicks as had embraced the new 
doctrines, the liberty of still adhering to them. The same revo- 
lution extended to Geneva, whose inhabitants had declared so- 
lemnly in favour of the reformed worship, and erected themselves 
into a free and independent republic (1534.) The church of 
Geneva, under the direction of Calvin, became the centre and 
citadel of the Reformation ; while the academy founded in that 
city, produced a vast number of theologians and celebrated scho- 
lars. It was at this time that the duke of Savoy planned the 
blockade of Geneva, to enforce certain ancient rights which he 
claimed over that city ; but the Bernese espoused the cause of 
the Genevans, in virtue of the treaties of common citizenship 
which subsisted between them. This Canton having entered 
into alliance with Francis I., declared war against the duke of 
Savoy (1536 ;) and in less than three months took from him the 
Pays de Vaud. Being desirous of interesting their neighbours 
the Friburgers in their cause, they invited them to take posses- 
sion of all those places that might suit their convenience ; and 
it was on this occasion that the city of Friburg acquired the prin- 
cipal part of its territory. These acquisitions were confirmed to 
the two Cantons, by the treaty which the Bernese concluded at 
Lausanne with the duke of Savoy (1564.) 

The German Empire from time to time renewed its preten- 



23S 



CHAPTER VII. 



sions on Switzerland, and the Imperial Chamber usurped au 
occasional jurisdiction over one or other of the Cantons. Ne- 
gotiations for a general peace having commenced ai Munster 
and Osnaburg, the thirteen Cantons sent their minister or envoy 
to Watch over the interests of the Helvetic Body at that congress ; 
and they obtained, through the intervention of France and Swe- 
den, that in one of the articles of the treaty it should be decla- 
red, that the city of Basle, and the other Swiss Cantons, were in 
possession of full liberty, and independent of the Empire, and 
in no respect subject to its tribunals. 

In Italy, the authority of the Emperor of Germany, which had 
silently declined during the preceding centuries, languished 
more and more under the long and feeble reign of Frederic III. 
At length it was reduced to the mere ceremony of coronation, 
and the simple exercise of some honorary and feudal rights, such 
as the investitures which the Imperial Court continued to grant 
to the vassals of Lombardy. Although the Imperial dignity im- 
plied the royalty of Italy, which was considered as indissolubly 
united to it, nevertheless it was the custom that the Kings of 
Germany should have themselves crowned separately, Kings of 
Italy at Milan, and Emperors at Rome. Frederic III., having 
had certain reasons for avoiding his coronation at Milan, received 
from the hands of Pope Nicholas V., in his own capital, the two 
crowns of Italy and Rome. Maximilian I., being prevented by 
the Venetians from repairing to Italy for his coronation (1608,) 
w<xs content to take the title of Emperor Elect, which his succes- 
sors in the Empire have retained till the present time. Charles 
V. was the last Emperor to whom the Pope, Clement VII., ad- 
ministered that double coronation of King of Italy and Emperor, 
at Bologna, in 1530. 

The Popes, the Kings of Naples, the Dukes of Milan, and the 
Republics of Venice and Florence, were the principal powers 
that shared among them the dominion of Italy towards the end 
of the fifteenth century. The continual wars which these states 
waged with each other, added to the weakness of the German 
Emperors, encouraged foreign powers to form plans of aggran- 
dizement and conquest over these countries. The Kings of 
France, Charles VIII., Louis XII., and Francis I., led away by 
a mania for conquest, undertook several expeditions into Italy, 
for enforcing their claims either on the kingdom of Naples, or 
the dutchy of Milan. They were thwarted in their schemes by 
the Kings of Spain, who, being already masters of Sicily and 
Sardinia, thought it behoved them also to extend their views to 
the Continent of Italy. Ferdinand the Catholic deprived the 
French of the kingdom of Naples (1500.) His successor, Charles 



I 



PERioP VI. A. D. 1453—1648. 239 

v.. expelled them from the Milanois, and obliged Francis!., by 
the treaties of Madrid (1526,) Cambray (1529,) and Crep) 
(1544,) to give up his pretensions on the kingdom of Naples, 
and the dutchy of Milan. From this time the Spaniards werp 
the predominating power in Italy for more than a hundred years. 

In the midst of these revolutions there arose three new prin- 
cipalities within that kingdom ; those of Florence, Parma, and 
Malta. The Republic of Florence held a distinguished rank in 
Italy during the fifteenth century, both on account of the flour- 
ishing state of its commerce, and the large extent of its territory, 
which comprehended the greater part of Tuscany, and gave to 
ihis Republic the means of holding the balance between the 
other powers of Italy. The opulent family of the Medici here 
exercised a high degree of influence ; they ruled not by force 
but by their munificence, and the judicious use which they made 
of their great riches. The credit and popularity of the Medici, 
excited envy and persecution against them, and caused them to 
be several times banished from Florence. They were expelled 
from this latter place at the same time that Pope Clement VII., 
who was of this family, was besieged by the Imperialists in Rome 
(1527.) That Pontiff", in making his peace with Charles V., ob- 
tained his consent that the Medici should be re-established at 
Florence, in the state in which they were before their last ban- 
ishment. The Emperor even promised the Pope to give Alex- 
der de Medici his natural daughter in marriage, with a consid- 
erable dowry. The Florentines, however, having shown some 
reluctance to receive the Medici, their city was besieged by the 
Imperial army, and compelled to surrender by capitulation (1530.) 

The Emperor, by a charter dated at Augsburg on the 28th of 
August following, preserved to the city of Florence its ancient 
republican forms. Alexander de Medici was declared governor- 
in-chief of the state ; but this dignity was vested in himself and 
his male descendants, who could only enjoy it according to the 
order of primogeniture. He was authorized, moreover, to con- 
struct a citadel at Florence, by means of which he afterwards 
exercised an absolute power over his fellow-citizens. As for 
the ducal dignity with which the new Prince of Florence was 
vested, it properly belonged to the dutchy of Parma, in the king- 
dom of Naples, which the Emperor had conferred on him. 

Alexander de Medici did not long enjoy his new honours. 
He was universally abhorred for his cruelties, and assassinated 
by Lorenzo de Medici, one of his own near relations (1537.) 
His successor in the dutchy was Cosmo de Medici, who annexed 
to the territory of Florence that of the ancient republic of 
Sienna, which the Emperor Charles V. had conquered, and 



1 

I • 
I • 



t 



240 CiLAPTER VTI. 

conferred on his son Philip II. in name of the Empire (1554.) 
This latter prince being desirous of seducing Cosmo from his 
aUiance with the Pope and the King of France, with whom the 
Spaniards were at war, granted him the investiture of the ter- 
ritory of Sienna, as a mesne-tenure holding of the crown of 
Spam, by way of equivalent for the considerable sums which 
he had advanced to Charles V. while he. was carrying on the 
siea:e of Sienna. In transferring the Siennois to the Duke, 
Philip reserved for himself the ports of Tuscany, such as 
Porto Ercole, Orbitello, Telemone, Monte-Argentaro, St. Ste- 
fano, Longone, Piombino, and the whole island of Elba, with 
the exception of Porto Ferrajo. By the same treaty, Cosmo 
engaged to furnish supplies to the Spaniards, for the defence of 
Milan and the kingdom of Naples. 

At length the Medici obtained the dignity of Grand Dukes, 
on occasion of the difference that had risen between them and 
the Dukes of Ferrara, on the subject of precedency. The Pope 
terminated this dispute, by granting to Cosmo the title of Grand 
Duke of Tuscany, with the royal honours (1569.) The Em- 
peror, however, took it amiss that the Pope should undertake to 
confer secular dignities in Italy ; thus encroaching on a right 
which he alleged belonged only to himself, in virtue of his 
being King of Italy. The quarrels which this affair had oc- 
casioned between the Court of Rome and the Empire, were 
adjusted in 1576, when the Emperor Maximilian II. granted to 
Francis de Medici, the brother and successor of Cosmo, the dig- 
nity of Grand Duke, on condition that he should acknowledge 
it as a tenure of the Empire, and not of the Pope. 

Among the number of those republics which the Visconti of 
Milan had subdued and overthrown in the fourteenth century, 
were those of Parma and Placentia. They had formed a de- 
pendency of the dutchy of Milan until 1512, when Louis XII., 
having been expelled from the Milanois by the Allies of the 
Holy League, these cities were surrendered by the Swiss to 
Pope Julius II., who laid some claim to them, as making part 
of the dowry of the famous Countess Matilda. The Emperor 
Maximilian ceded them to the Pope by the treaty of peace which 
he made with him in 1512. Francis I. took these cities again 
from the court of Rome, when he reconqiiered the dutchy of 
Milan (1515;) but this prince having also been expelled from 
the Milanois (1521,) the Pope again got possession of Parma 
and Placentia, in virtue of the treaty which he had concluded 
with Charles V., for the re-estab1ishment of Francis Sforza in 
the dutchy of Milan. These cities continued to form part of 
the Ecclesiastical States until 1545. when they weie dismem- 



i-EBioD VI. A. D. 1453— J 648. 241 

bered from it by Paul III,, who erected them into dutchies, and 
conferred them on his son Peter Louis Farnese, and his heirs- 
male in the order of primogeniture ; to be held under the title 
of fiefs of the Holy See, and on condition of paying an annual 
tribute of nine thousand ducats. 

This elevation of a man whose very birth seemed a disgrace 
to the pontiff, gave universal offence. The new Duke of Parma 
soon rendered himself so odious by his dissolute life, his crimes 
and scandalous excesses, that a conspiracy was formed against 
him ; and he was assassinated in the citadel of Placentia in 
1547. Ferdinand Gonzaga, who was implicated, as is alleged in 
this assassination, then took possession of Placentia in name of 
the Emperor ; and it Avas not till 1557 that Philip II. of Spain re- 
stored that city, Avith its dependencies, to Octavius Farnese, son 
and successor of the murdered prince. The house of Farnese 
held the dutchy of Parma as a fief of the Ecclesiastical States, 
until the extinction of the male line in 1731. 

The Knights of St. John of Jerusalem, after their expulsion 
from the Holy Land, had retired to the Isle of Cyprus, and from 
thence to Rhodes, in 1310, of which they had dispossessed the 
Greeks. They did not maintain possession of this place longer 
than 1523, when Soliman the Great undertook the siege of 
Rhodes, with an army of two hundred thousand men, and a 
fleet of four hundred sail. The Knights boldly repulsed the 
different attacks of the Turks ; but being entirely dependent 
on their own forces, and receiving no succour from the powers 
of Christendom, they were compelled to capitulate, after an ob- 
stinate defence of six months. Leaving Rhodes, these Knights 
took shelter in Viterbo, belonging to the States of the Church, 
where they were cordially received by Pope Clement VIL 
There they remained until the Emperor Charles V. granted 
them the Isle of Malta, which became their principal residence 
(1530.) That prince ceded to them the islands of Malta and 
Gozzo, with the city of Tripoli in Africa, on condition of hold- 
ing them from him and his successors in the kingdom of Sicily, 
as noble fiefs, frank and free, without any other obligation than 
the annual gift of a falcon, in acknowledgment of their hold- 
ing under the crown, and presenting to the King of Sicily three 
of their subjects, of whom he was to choose one, on each va- 
cancy of the bishopric of Malta. Charles V. added; another 
clause, that if ever the Order should leave Malta and' fix their 
residence elsewhere, that island should revert to the King of 
Sicily. The Knights of St. John continued in the sovereignty 
of Malta and Gozzo till 1798; but they lost Tripoli, in 1561, 
which was taken from thera by the Turks. 

16 



242 CHAPTER VII. 

A memorable revolution happened at Genoa, about the begin- 
ning of the sixteenth century. That republic, after having for a 
long time formed part of the dutchy of Milan, recovered its an- 
cient independence about the time when the French and Span- 
lards disputed the sovereignty of Italy, and the conquest of the 
Milanois. Expelled by the Imperialists from the city of Genoa 
in 1522, the French had found means to repossess it (1527,) with 
the assistance of the celebrated Andrew Doria, a noble Genoese, 
who had been in the service of Francis I. This distinguished 
admiral, supplanted by favourites, and maltreated by the court, 
abandoned the cause of France in the following year, and es 
poused that of the Emperor Charles V. 

The French then laid siege to the city of Naples, which was 
reduced to the last extremity, and on the point of surrendering, 
when Doria, having hoisted the Imperial flfg, set sail for Naples, 
with the galleys under his command, and threw abundance of 
provisions into the besieged city. The French army, now cut 
off from all communication by sea, soon began to experience 
those calamities from which the Imperialists had just been de- 
livered. Their whole troops being destroyed by famine and con- 
tagious disease, the expedition to Naples fell to the ground, and the 
affairs of the French in Italy were totally ruined. It is alleged 
that Charles V., to recompense Doria for this important service, 
offered him the sovereignty of Genoa ; and that, instead of ac- 
cepting this honour, that great man stipulated for the liberty of 
his country, whenever it should be delivered from the yoke of 
France. Courting the glory of being the liberator of his native 
city, he sailed directly for Genoa, of which he made himself 
master, in a single night, without shedding one drop of blood 
(1-528.) The French garrison retired to the citadel, and were 
obliged to capitulate for want of provisions. 

This expedition procured Doria the title of Father of his 
Country, which was conferred on him by a decree of the Senate. 
it was by his advice that a committee of twelve persons was 
chosen to organize a new scheme of government for the republic. 
A register was drawn up of all those families who were to com- 
pose the Grand Council, which was destined to exercise the 
supreme power. The Doge was to continue in office ten years , 
and great care was taken to remove those causes which had pre- 
viously excited factions and intestine disorders. Hence the 
establishment of the Genoese aristocracy, whose forms have 
since been preserved, with some few modifications which were 
introduced afterwards, in consequence of certain dissensions 
which had arisen between the ancient and the new nobility. 
Venice, the eldest of the European republics, had reached th« 



PERIOD VI. A. D. 1453—1648. 243 

zenith of its greatness about the end of th? fifteenth century. 
The vast extent of its commerce, supported by a powerful ma- 
rine, the multiplied sources of its industry, and the monopoly 
of the trade in the East, had made it one of the richest and 
most formidable States in Europe. Besides several ports on 
the Adriatic, and numerous settlements which they had in the 
Archipelago, and the trading towns on the Levant, they gained 
ground more and more on the continent of Italy, where they 
formed a considerable territory. Guided by an artful and en- 
terprising policy, this Republic seized with marvellous avidity 
every circumstance which favoured its views of aggrandizement. 
On the occasion of their quarrels with the Duke of Ferrara, they 
obtained possession of the province of Polesino de Rovigo, by a 
treaty which they concluded with that prince in 1484. 

Afterwards, having joined the League which the powers of 
Italy had opposed to Charles VIII. and his projects of conquest 
they refused to grant supplies to the King of Naples for the re- 
covery of his kingdom, except by his consenting to yield up 
the cities of Trani, Otranto, Brindisi, and Gallipoli. Louis XII., 
being resolved to enforce his claims on the dutchy of Milan, and 
wishing to gain over this Republic to his interest, gave up to 
them, by the treaty of Blois (1499,) the town of Cremona, and 
the whole country lying between the Oglio, the Adda, and the 
Po. On the death of Pope Alexander VI. (1503,) they took 
that favourable opportunity of wresting from the Ecclesiastical 
States several towns of Romagna ; among others, Rimini and 
Faenza. 

Of all the acquisitions which the Venetians made, the most 
important was that of Cyprus. That island, one of the most 
considerable in the Mediterranean, had been conquered from the 
Greeks by Richard Coeur de Lion, King of England, who sur- 
rendered it to Guy of Lusignan (1192,) the last king of Jeru- 
salem, in compensation for the loss of his kingdom. From Guy 
of Lusignan descended a long line of CypiioL kings ; the last of 
whom, John III., left an only daughter, named Charlotte, who 
succeeded him in that kingdom, and caused her husband, Louis 
of Savoy, to be also crowned king. There still remained a Das- 
tard son of John III., called James, who was protected by the 
Sultan of Egypt, to whom the kings of Cyprus were tributaries, 
and who succeeded in expelling Charlotte and her husband, the 
Prince of Savoy, from the throne (1460.) James, who was de- 
sirous of putting himself under the protection of the Venetians, 
married Catherine Cornaro, dnughier of Marco Corneille, a pa- 
trician of Venice. The Senate, in honour of this marriage, 
adopted Catherine, and declared her daughter of St. Mark or 



244 CHAPTEB V[l. 

the Republic. James died in 1473, leaving a posthumous son, 
who died also in the second year of his age. The Republic 
then considering the kingdom of Cyprus as their own inherit- 
ance, took possession of the natural children of James, and 
induced Queen Catherine, by various means, to retire to Venice, 
and there to resign her crown into the hands of the Senate, who 
assigned her a pension, with the Castle of Azolo, in Trevisano, 
for her residence ; and obtained for themselves the investiture 
of that island from the Sultan of Egypt (1490.) 

A career so prosperous was eventually followed by a reverse 
of fortune ; and several circumstances concurred to accelerate 
the decline of this flourishing republic. They received a ter- 
rible blow by the discovery of the new passage to India round 
the Cape, which deprived them of the commerce of the East ; 
thus drying up the principal source of their wealth, as well as 
of their revenue and their marine. In vain did they put in 
practice all the arts of their policy to defeat the commercial en- 
terprises of the Portuguese in India ; exciting against them, first 
the Sultans of Egypt, and afterwards the Turkish Emperors, 
and furnishing these Mahometan powers with supplies. The 
activity of the Portuguese surmounted all these obstacles. They 
obtained a firm settlement in the East, where in course of time 
they became a very formidable power. Lisbon, in place of 
Venice, became the emporium for the productions of India ; and 
the Venetians could no longer compete with them in this field of 
Eastern commerce. Besides, the good fortune which so long 
attended the undertakings of the republic, had inspired them 
with a passion for conquest. They took every opportunity of 
making encroachments on their neighbours ; and sometimes for- 
getting the counsels of prudence, they drew down upon them- 
selves the jealousy and resentment of the principal States of Italy. 

To this jealousy must be attributed the famous League, which 
Pope Julius II., the Emperor Maximilian, Louis XII., Ferdinand 
of Spain, and several of the Italian States, concluded at Cam- 
bray (1508,) for the partition of the Venetian territory on Terra 
Firma. Louis XII. gained a signal victory over the republi- 
cans near Agnadello, which was followed by such a rapid suc- 
cession of conquests, that the Senate of Venice were struck with 
consternation ; and the Republic must have been infallibly lost, 
had Louis been supported by his allies. But the Pope and the 
King of Spain, who dreaded the preponderance of the French 
in Italy, suddenly abandoned the League, and concluded sepa- 
rate treaties of peace with the republicans ; nor was the Emperor 
Maximilian long in following their example. In consequence of 
this, the Venetians, after having been menaced with a total 



PERIOD VI. A. D. 1453—1648. 245 

overthrow, lost only, in course of the war, the territory of Cre- 
mona and Ghiera d'Adda, with the cities and ports of Romagna 
and Apulia. But this loss was far surpassed by that which they 
experienced in their finances, their commerce and manufactures. 
on account of the expensive efforts which they were obliged to 
make in resisting their numerous enemies. 

The ruin of this Republic was at length completed by the 
prodigious increase of the power of the Ottomans, who took from 
them, by degrees, their best possessions in the Archipelago and 
the Mediterranean. Dragged as it were in spite of themselves, 
into the war of Charles V. against the Turks, they lost four- 
teen islands in the Archipelago ; among others Chios, Patmos, 
jEgina, Nio, Stampalia, and Paros ; and were obliged, by the 
peace of Constantinople (1540,) to surrender to the Turks Mal- 
vasia and Napoli di Romagna, the only two places which re- 
mained to them in the Morea. 

The Turks also took from them the isle of Cyprus, the finest 
of their possessions in the Mediterranean. The Sultan Selim 
II., being determined to conquer that place, attacked it with a 
superior force (1570,) although the Venetians had given him no 
ground for hostilities. He made himself master of the cities of 
Nicosia and Famagusta; and completed the conquest of the 
whole island, before the succours which the King of Spain and 
the Pope had granted to the Venetians, could join their fleet. 
On the approach of the Christian army, the Turkish fleet re- 
tired within the Gulf of Lepanto, where they were attacked by 
the allies under the command of Don John of Austria, a natural 
son of Charles V. The Christians gained a complete victory 
(1571.) The whole Turkish fleet was destroyed, and the Con- 
federates took immense booty. The news of this defeat struck 
terror into the city of Constantinople, and made the Grand Sig- 
nior transfer his court to Adrianople. The Christians, however, 
reaped no advantage from their victory. A misunderstanding 
arose among the Confederates, and their fleets dispersed without 
accomplishing any thing. The Venetians did not return to the 
isle of Cyprus ; and knowing well that they could not reckon on 
any effectual aid on the part of their allies, they determined to 
make peace with the Turks (1573.) By this treaty they left 
the Porte in possession of Cyprus, and consented to pay it a sum 
of 300,000 ducats, to obtain the restitution of their ancient 
boundaries in Dalmatia. From this epoch, the republic of 
Venice dates its entire decay. It was evident, that it must 
thenceforth resign its pretensions as a leading power, and adopt 
a system of neutrality which might put it in condition to main- 
tain peace with its neighbours. 



246 CHAPTER vn. 

England, as we have mentioned above, had been the nval of 
France, while the latter now became the rival of Austria. This 
rivalry commenced with the marriage of Maximilian of Austria, 
to Mary, daughter ana heiress of Charles, last Duke of Burgun- 
dy ; by which the house of Austria succeeded to the whole do- 
minions of that Prince. The Low Countries, which at thai 
time were the principal emporium for the manufactures and com- 
merce of Europe, formed a part of that opulent succession. 
Louis XL, King of France, was unable to prevent the marriage 
of the Austrian Prince with the heiress of Burgundy ; but he 
took advantage of that event to detach from the territories of 
that princess whatever he found convenient. He seized on the 
dutchy of Burgimdy as a vacant fief of his crown, as well as the 
seigniories of Auxerrois, Maconnois, Bar-sur-Seine, and the 
towns on the Somme ; and these different countries were pre- 
served to France by the treaties of peace concluded at Arras 
(1482) and Senlis (1493.) Such was the origin of the rivalry 
and bloody wars between France and Austria. The theatre of 
hostilities, which, under Louis XL had been in the Low Coun- 
tries, was transferred to Italy, under Charles VIIL, Louis XIL, 
and Francis L From thence it was changed to Germany, in 
the reign of Henry IL 

In Italy, besides this rivalry between the two powers, there 
was another motive, or pretext, for war, viz. the claims of France 
en the kingdom of Naples and the dutchy of Milan. The claim 
of Louis XI. on the kingdom of Naples, had devolved to him 
with the county of Provence, which he inherited in virtue of the 
will of Charles, Count of Provence, and the last male descen- 
dant of the house of Anjou (148L) Charles VIIL, the son and 
successor of Louis XL, urged on by youthful ambition, was de- 
termined to enforce this claim. He undertook an expedition 
into Italy (1494,) and took possession of the kingdom of Naples 
without striking a blow. But being opposed by a formidable 
confederacy of the Italian princes, with Maximilian at their head, 
he was obliged to abandon his conquests with the same facility 
he had made them ; and he was fortunate in being able to effect 
his retreat, by the famous victory which he gained over the al- 
lies near Foronuovo, in the dutchy of Parma. 

The claim to the dutchy of Milan, was founded on the con- 
tract of marriage between Louis, Duke of Orleans, the grandfa- 
ther of Louis XIL, and Valentine of Milan. That contract pro- 
vided, that failing heirs-male of John Galeas, Duke of Milan, 
the dutchy should fall to Valentine, and the children of her 
naarriage with the Duke of Orleans. Louis XII. claimed the 
rights of Valentine, his grandmother, in opposition to the princes 



i i 



PERIOD VI. A. D. 1453 — 1648. 247 

of the family of Sforza, who had taken possession of the 
dutchy of Milan, on the extinction of the male-heirs of the 
Visconti, which happened in 1447. The different expeditions 
which he undertook into Italy, both for the conquest of Milan 
and the kingdom of Naples, met with no better success than 
that of his predecessor had done; in consequence of a new 
League, called the Holy League, which Pope Julius II. raised 
against him, and into which he drew the Emperor Maximilian, 
the Kings of Arragon and England, with the Venetians and the 
Swiss. Louis XII. lost all the advantages of his conquests. 
The kingdom of Naples fell under the power of Ferdinand the 
Catholic, and the family of Sforza were reinstated in the dutchy 
of Milan. 

These Italian wars, which were renewed at different times 
under the reign of Francis I., cost France much blood and im- 
mense sums. In this struggle she was forced to succumb, and 
Francis I. bound himself, by the treaty of Crepy, to abandon his 
claims on Italy in favour of Charles V. The kingdom of Na- 
ples and the dutchy of Milan remained incorporated with the 
Spanish monarchies. Francis I., nevertheless, had the glory of 
arresting the progress of his rival, and effectually counterbalan- 
cing a power which, at that time, made all Europe tremble. 

Henry II., the son and successor of Francis I., adopted a new 
line of policy. He attacked the House of Austria, in Germany ; 
having entered into a league with Maurice, Elector of Saxony, 
and the Protestant princes of the Empire, to oppose Charles V. 
That league, which was ratified at Chambord (1552,) procured 
for Henry II. possession of the bishoprics of Metz, Toul, and 
Verdun ; and he even succeeded in forcing the Emperor to raise 
the siege of Metz, which that prince had undertaken about the 
end of the year 1552. A truce of five years was agreed on be- 
tween these two sovereigns at Vaucelles ; but, in the course of 
a few months, the war was renewed, and Philip II., who had 
succeeded his father, Charles V., induced his queen, Mary of 
England, to join in it. Among the events of this war, the most 
remarkable are the victory of St. Quentin, gained by the Span- 
iards (1557,) and the conquest of the city of Calais, by Francis, 
Duke of Guise ; the last possession of the English in France 
(1558.) The death of Queen Mary prepared the way for a 
peace, which was signed at Chateau-Cambresis (1559,) between 
France, England, and Spain. The Duke of Savoy obtained 
there the restitution of his estates, of which Francis I. had de- 
prived him in 1536. Calais remained annexed to France. 

A series of wars, both civil and religious, broke out under the 
feeble reigns of the three sons and successors of Henry II. The 



248 



CHAPTER VU. 



great influence of the Guises, and the factions which distracted 
the court and the state, were the true source of hostilities, though 
religion was made the pretext. Francis II. having espoused 
Mary Stuart, Queen of Scotland, the whole power and authority 
of the government passed into the hands of Francis, Duke of 
Guise, and the Cardinal de Lorraine, his brother, who were the 
queen's maternal uncles. The power which these noblemen en- 
joyed excited the jealousy of Anthony, King of Navarre, and 
his brother Louis, Prince of Conde, who imagined that the pre- 
cedency in this respect was due to them as princes of the blood, 
in preference to the Lorraine family, who might be considered 
as strangers in France. The former being Calvinists, and 
having enlisted all the leaders of that party in their cause, it was 
not difficult for the Lorraine princes to secure the interest of all 
the most zealous Catholics. 

The first spark that kindled these civil wars, was the conspi- 
racy of Amboise. The intention of the conspirators was to 
seize the Guises, to bring them to trial, and throw the manage- 
ment of affairs into the hands of the princes of the blood. The 
conspiracy having been discovered, the prince of Cond^, who 
was suspected of being at its head, was arrested ; and he would 
have been executed, had not the premature death of Francis II. 
happened in the meantime. The queen-mother, Catherine de 
Medici, who was intrusted with the regency during the minority 
of Charles IX., and desirous of holding the balance between the 
two parties, set Conde at liberty, and granted the Calvinists the 
free exercise of their religion, in the suburbs and parts lying 
out of the towns. This famons edict (January 1562) occasion- 
ed the first civil war, the signal of which Avas the massacre of 
Vassy in Champagne. 

Of these wars, there have been commonly reckoned eight 
under the family of Valois, viz. four in the reign of Charles IX., 
and four in that of Henry III. The fourth, under Charles IX., 
began with the famous massacre of St. Bartholomew, authorized 
and directed by the King (1572.) 

It is of some importance to notice here the Edict of Pacijica- 
tion of Henry III., of the month of May 1576. The new pri- 
vileges which this edict granted to the Calvinists, encouraged 
the Guises to form a league this same year, ostensibly for the 
maintenance of the Catholic religion, but whose real object was 
the dethronement of the reigning dynasty, and the elevation of 
the Guises. The Duke of Alen9on, only brother of Henry III., 
bemg dead, and the King of Navarre, who professed the Cal- 
vinistic faith, having become presumptive heir to the crown, the 
chiefs of the Catholic lieague no longer made a secret of their 



I ! 



PERIOD VI. A. D. 1453—1648. 249 

measures. They concluded a formal alliance (1584,) with Philip 
II. of Spain, for excluding the Bourbons from the throne of 
France. Henry III. was obliged, by the Leagxiers, to recom- 
mence the war against the Calvinists ; but perceiving that the 
Duke of Guise, and the Cardinal his brother, took every occa- 
sion to render his government odious, he caused them both to be 
assassinated at Blois (1588,) and threw himself on the protec- 
tion of the King of Navarre. In conjunction with that Prince, 
he undertook the siege of Paris, during which he was himself 
assassinated at St. Cloud, by a Jacobin of the name of James 
Clement (1589.) 

The dynasty of Valois ended with Henry III., after having 
occupied the throne for two hundred and sixty-one years. Under 
this dynasty the royal authority had gained considerably, both 
by the annexation of the great fiefs to the cro\vn-lands, and by 
the introduction of regular armies, which put an end to the feu- 
dal power. Louis XI. was chiefly instrumental in bringing the 
grandees under subjection, and putting an end to the cruelties 
and oppressions of anarchy. If these changes, however, contri- 
buted to public order, it is nevertheless true that the national 
liberty suffered by them ; that the royal authority daily received 
new augmentations ; and that, so early as the reign of Louis XII., 
it was considered as high treason to speak of the necessity of 
assembhng the States-General. The practice of these assemblies, 
however, was renewed under the successors of that prince ; they 
even became frequent under the last kings of the house of Valois, 
who convoked them chiefly with the view of demanding supplies. 
Francis I. augmented his influence over the clergy by the con- 
cordat which he concluded with Leo X. (1516,) in virtue of 
which he obtained the nomination to all vacant prelatures ; leav- 
ing to the Pope the confirmation of the prelates, and the liberty 
of receiving the annats. 

The race of Valois was succeeded by that of the Bourbons, who 
were descended from Robert Count of Clermont, younger son of 
St. Louis. Henry IV., the first king of this dynasty, was related 
in the twenty-first degree to Henry III., his inmiediate predeces- 
sor. That prince, who was a Calvinist, the more easily reduced 
the party of the League, by publicly abjuring his religion at St. 
Denis. He concluded a peace with the Spaniards, who were 
allies of the League, at Vervins ; and completely tranquillized 
the kingdom by the famous edict of Nantes, which he published 
in favour of the reformed religion. By that edict he guaranteed 
to the Protestants perfect liberty of conscience, and the public 
exercise of their worship, with the privilege of filling all offices 
of trust : but he rendered them, at the same time, a pie>;e of dis- 



260 CHAPTER VII. 

service, by granting them forfeited places, under the name of places 
of security. By thus fostering a spirit of party and intestine 
faction, he furnished a plausible pretext to their adversaries for 
gradually undermining the edict, and finally proscribing the ex- 
ercise of the reformed religion in France. 

That great prince, after having established the tranquillity of 
his kingdom at home and abroad, encouraged arts and manufac- 
tures, and put the administration of his finances into admirable 
order, was assassinated by Ravaillac (1610,) at the very moment 
when he was employed in executing the grand scheme which he 
had projected for the pacification of Europe. Cardinal Richelieu, 
when he assumed the reins of government under Louis XIII., 
had nothing so mtlch at heart as the expulsion of the Calvinists 
from their strongholds. This he accomplished by means of the 
three wars which he waged against them, and by the famous 
siege of Rochelle, which he reduced in 1628. That great states- 
man next employed his policy against the house of Austria, whose 
preponderance gave umbrage to all Europe. He took the op- 
portunity of the vacant succession of Mantua to espouse the cause 
of the Duke of Nevers against the Courts of Vienna and Mad- 
rid, who supported the Duke of Guastalla ; and maintained his 
protege' in the dutchy of Mantua, by ihe treaties of peace which 
were concluded at Ratisbon and Querasque (1631.) Having 
afterwards joined Sweden, he made war against the two branches 
of Austria, and on this occasion got possession of the places which 
the Swedes had seized in Alsace. 

Louis XIV. was only four years and seven months old when 
he succeeded his father (1643.) The queen-mother, Anne of 
Austria, assumed the regency. She appointed Cardinal Ma- 
zarin her prime minister, whose administration, during the 
minority of the King, was a scene of turbulence and distrac- 
tion. The same external policy which had directed the minis- 
try of Richelieu, was followed by his successor. He prose- 
."uted the war against Austria with vigour, in conjunction with 
Sweden, and their confederates in Germany. By the peace 
which was concluded with the Emperor at Munster, besides 
the three bishoprics of Lorraine, France obtained the Land- 
graviate of Lower and Upper Alsace, Sungaw, and the pre- 
fecture of the ten Imperial cities of Alsace. Spain was ex- 
cluded from this treaty ; and the war continued between that 
kingdom and France until the peace of the Pyrenees, by which 
the counties of Roussillon and Conflans were ceded to France, 
as well as several cities in Flanders, Hainault, and Luxembourg. 

Spain, which had long been divided into several States, and 
a stranger as it were to the rest of Europe, became all of a sud 



PERIOD VI. A. D. 1453—1648. 261 

den a formidable power, turning the political balance in her own 
favour. This elevation was the work of Ferdinand the Catholic, 
a prince born for great exploits ; of a profound and fertile genius , 
but tarnishing his bright qualities by perfidy and unbounded 
ambition. He was heir to the throne of Arragon, and laid 
the foundation of his greatness by his marriage with Isabella 
(1469,) sister to Henry VI. last King of Castille. That match 
united the kingdoms of Castille and Arragon, which were the 
two principal Christian States in Spain. Henry of Castille had 
left a daughter, named Jane, but she being considered as illegi- 
timate by the Castillians, the throne was conferred on Isabella 
and her husband Ferdinand (1474.) The Infanta Jane, in order 
to enforce her claims, betrothed herself to Alphonso V. King of 
Portugal ; but that prince being defeated by Ferdinand at the 
battle of Toro (1476,) was obliged to renounce Castille and his 
marriage with the Infanta. 

At the accession of Isabella to the throne of Castille, that 
kingdom was a prey to all the miseries of anarchy. The abuses 
of the feudal system were there maintained by violence and in- 
justice. Ferdinand demolished the fortresses of the nobles who 
infested the country ; he gave new vigour to the laws ; liberated 
the people from the oppression of the great ; and, under pretence 
of extirpating the Jews and Mahometans, he established the 
tribunal of the Inquisition (1478.) which spread universal terror 
by its unheard of cruelties. Torquemada, a Dominican, who 
was appointed grand Inquisitor (1483,) burnt in the space of four 
years near 6000 individuals. 

The Moors still retained the kingdom of Grenada. Ferdinand 
took advantage of their dissensions to attempt the conquest of it, 
in which he succeeded, after a vigorous war of eighteen years. 
Abo Abdeli, the last King of Grenada, fled to Africa. An edict, 
which was published immediately after, ordered the expul- 
sion of all the Jew^s ; about an hundred thousand of whom fled 
from Spain, and took shelter, some in Portugal, and others in 
Africa. Ferdinand did not include the Moors in this proscrip- 
tion, whom he thought to gain over to Christianity by means of 
persecution ; but having revolted in the year 1500, he then al- 
lowed them to emigrate. It was this blind and headlong zeal 
that procured Ferdinand the title of the Catholic King, which 
Pope Alexander III. conferred on him and his successors (1493.) 
That prince also augmented his power by annexing to his crown 
the Grand Mastership of the Military Orders of Calatrava, Al- 
cantara, and St. James of Compostella. 

Every thing conspired to aggrandize Ferdinand ; and as if the 
Old World had not been sufficient, a New one was opened to 



252 CHAPTER VII. 

mm by the discovery of America. He was heir, by the father's 
side, to the kingdoms of Arragon, Sicily, and Sardinia. He 
got possession of Castille by his marriage, and of Grenada by 
force of arms ; so that nothing was wanting except Navarre to 
unite all Spain under his dominion. The Holy League, which 
Pope Julius II. had organized against Louis XII. (1511,) fur- 
nished him with a pretext for seizing that kingdom. Entering 
into an alliance with the Pope, he concerted with the King of 
England to invade Guienne, on which the English had some 
ancient claims. They demanded of the King of Navarre that 
he should make common cause with the allies of the Holy 
League against Louis XII. That prince, however, wishing to 
preserve neutrality, they prescribed conditions so severe, that he 
had no other alternative left than to seek protection in France. 
Ferdinand then obtained possession of all that part of Navarre 
which lay beyond the Pyrenees. Twelve years before that time 
Ferdinand had, by the treaty of Grenada, planned with Louif 
XII. the conqiiest of the kingdom of Naples. Frederic of Ar- 
ragon was then deprived of that kingdom, and his States were 
divided between the two allied kings ; but Ferdinand having 
Boon quarrelled with Louis XII. as to their respective boundaries, 
this was made a pretext for expelling the French from Naples, 
which was again united to the Spanish monarchy, in the years 
1503 and 1505. 

Charles I. of Austria, grandson of Ferdinand, and his succes- 
sor in the Spanish monarchy, added to that crown the Low 
Countries and Franche-Comte, which he inherited in right of 
his father Philip of Austria, and his grandmother Mary of Bur- 
gundy. He added likewise the kingdoms of Mexico and Peru 
on the continent of America, and the dutchy of Milan in Italy, 
in which he invested his son Philip, after having repeatedly ex- 
pelled the French in the years 1522 and 1525. 

These were all the advantages he derived from his wars 
against Francis I., which occupied the greater part of his 
reign. Blinded by his animosity against that Prince, and by his 
ruling passion for war, he only exhausted his kingdom, and im- 
paired his true greatness. Charles resigned the Spanish mo- 
narchy to his son Philip II., which then comprehended the Low 
Countries, the kmgdoms of Naples, Sicily and Sardinia, the 
dutchy of Milan, and the Spanish possessions in America. The 
peace of Chateau Cambresis, which Philip II. signed in 1559, 
after a long war against France, may be regarded as the era of 
Spanish greatness. To the states which were left him by his 
father, Philip added the kingdom of Portugal, with the Portu- 
guese possessions in Africa, Asia, and America ; but this was the 



PERIOD VI- A< t). 1453—1648. 253 

termination of his prosperity. His reign after that was only a 
succession of misfortunes. His revolting despotism excited the 
Belgians to insurrection, and gave birth to the republic of the 
United Provinces. Elizabeth of England having joined with 
the Confederates of the Low Countries, Philip, out of revenge, 
equipped a formidable fleet, known by the name of the Invinci- 
ble Armada, which was composed of 130 vessels of enormous 
size, manned with 20,000 soldiers, exclusive of sailors, and arm* 
ed with 1360 pieces of cannon. On entering the Channel they 
were defeated by the English (21st of July 15S8,) and the greater 
part of them destroyed by a storm. 

From this calamity may be dated the decline of the Spanish 
monarchy, which was exhausted by its expensive wars. Philip, 
at his death, left an enormous debt, and the whole glory of the 
Spanish nation perished with him. The reigns of his feeble 
successors are only remarkable for their disasters. Philip III. 
did irreparable injury to his crown by the expulsion of the Moors 
or Morescoes (1610,) which lost Spain nearly a million of her 
mdustrious subjects. Nothing can equal the misfortunes which 
she experienced under the reign of Philip IV. During the war 
which he had to support against France, the Catalans revolted, 
and put themselves under the protection of that Crown (164C,) 
Encouraged by their example, the Portuguese likewise shook 
off the yoke, and replaced the House of Braganza on their 
throne. Lastly, the Neapolitans, harassed by the Duke d'Oli- 
varez, prime minister of Philip IV. revolted, and attempted to 
form themselves into a republic (1647.) These reverses on the 
part of Spain added to the number of her enemies. The famous 
Cromwell having entered into an alliance Avith France (1655,) 
dispossessed the Spaniards of Jamaica, one of their richest set- 
tlements in America. 

Towards the end of the fifteenth century, Portugal had reach- 
ed a high pitch of elevation, which she owed to the astonishing 
progress of her navigation and her commerce. John II., whose 
fleets first doubled the Cape of Good Hope, augmented the royal 
authority, by humbling the exorbitant and tyrannical power of 
the grandees. In the diet which was assembled at Evora, he 
retracted the concessions which his predecessors had made to 
the nobles, to the prejudice of the Crown. He abolished the 
power of life and death, Avhich the lords exercised over their 
vassals, and subjected their towns and their territories to the 
jurisdiction of officers appointed by the King. The nobles, who 
were displeased at these innovations, having combined in de- 
fence of their privileges, and chosen the Duke of Braganza for 
their leader, John, without being disconcerted by thia opposition, 



254 CHAPTER vn. 

had the Duke brought to a trial, and his head cut off, while his 
brother was hanged in effigy. This example of severity intirni* 
dated the grandees, and made them submit to his authority. 
The most brilliant era of Portugal was that of Emmanuel and 
John III., who reigned between the years 1495 and 1557. It 
was under these two Princes that the Portuguese formed their 
powerful empire in India, of which nothing now remains but 
the ruins. 

The glory of Portugal suffered an eclipse under the feeble 
reign of Sebastian, grandson and immediate successor of John. 
That Prince, who came to the throne at the age of three years, 
had been brought up by the Jesuits, who instead of instructing 
him in the important arts of government, had given him the 
education of a monk. They had inspired him with a dislike 
for matrimony, but with a decided attachment for the crusades. 
Muley Mahomet, King of Morocco, having requested his assist- 
ance against his uncle Moluc, who had dethroned him, Sebas- 
tian undertook an expedition into Africa in person, carrying with 
him the flower of his nobility. A bloody battle was fought near 
Alca9ar, in the kingdom of Fez (1578,) where the Portuguese 
sustained a complete defeat. Sebastian was slain ; and, what is 
sufficiently remarkable, his enemy Moluc died a natural death 
during the action, while Muley Mahomet was drowned in the 
flight. 

[During the reign of this king, every thing had fallen into 
decay ; even the character of the nation had begun to degenerate. 
The spirit of chivalry which had distinguished them, was ex- 
changed for mercantile adventures, which even infected the 
higher classes ; while avarice, luxury, and effeminacy, brought 
on a universal corruption. The governors of their colonies in- 
dulged in all sorts of violence and injustice. They seized the 
more lucrative branches of commerce. The military force, 
which Emmanuel and John III. had kept up in India, was 
neglected. The clergy usurped the whole weaUh of the colo- 
nies, and exercised an absolute power by means of the Inquisition, 
which was no where more terrible than at Goa.] 

As Sebastian had never been married, the throne passed at 
his death to Henry the Cardinal, his grand uncle by the father's 
side, who was already far advanced in life. Perceiving his end 
approach, and that his death would involve the kingdom in con- 
fusion, he summoned an assembly of the States at Lisbon (1579,) 
in order to fix the succession. The States appointed eleven 
cemmissioners, who were to investigate the claims of the diffe- 
rent candidates for the crown. Philip II. of Spain, who was one 
of this number, did not pay the least regard to the decision of 






I 1 



PERIOD VI. A. D. 1453—1648. 255 

the Slates. INo sooner had he learned the death of Henry (1580,) 
than he sent the Duke of Alva, at the head of an army, to take 
possession of Portugal. Thfe Duke defeated the troops of his 
opponent, Anthony prior of Crato, one of the claimants, who 
had proclaimed himself king ; pretending that he was the legiti- 
mate son of the Infant Don Louis, son of Emmanuel. Anthony 
had no other alternative left than to take shelter in France, and j 
the whole of Portugal yielded to the yoke of the Spaniards. 

An inveterate antipathy, howe^r, subsisted between the two 
nations, which made the Portuguese detest their Spanish mas- 
ters. This hatred was still more increased, on account of the 
losses which the Portuguese sustained, in the meantime, in their 
commerce and possessions in the East Indies. The lucrative 
traffic which the Confederates in the Low Countries, called the 
Dutch, carried on by importing the merchandise of the East 
from Portugal, and hawking them over the north of Europe, 
having enabled them to support the war against Spain, Philip II. 
thought to strike a fatal blow at their prosperity, by forbidding 
them all commerce with Portugal. 

That Prince, however, was deceived in his expectation. The 
Confederates, deprived of this lucrative branch of their industry, 
and after having made some unsuccessful attempts to find a 
north-west passage to India, took the resolution of sailing directly 
thither (1595,) under the conduct of Cornelius Houtman and 
Molinaar, in order to seek, at the fountain-head, those commodi- 
ties which were refused them in Portugal. No sooner had they 
attempted to form settlements in India than the Portuguese de- 
termined to prevent them, and fought with them, near Bantam, 
a town in Java, a naval battle, which ended in favour of the 
Confederates. 

Encouraged by this first success, the Dutch undertook to de- 
prive the Portuguese of their principal possessions in India. 
The conquest which they made of the Moluccas, procured them 
the spice trade. They likewise formed settlements in the island 
of Java, where they founded the city of Batavia, which became 
the capital and emporium of their settlements in India. At 
length Goa and Diu were the only places that remained to the 
Portuguese of their numerous possessions in India. These im- 
portant losses greatly exasperated the Portuguese against the 
Spaniards. What added still more to their resentment was, 
that in the court of Madrid they saw a premeditated design to 
make vassals of the Portuguese ; and to cut off the most likely 
means of enabling them, sooner or later, to recover their ancient 
independence. It was with this view that their army and their 
marine were disorganized, their crown revenues dissipated, their 



256 



CHAPTER TIL 



nobility precludea Irom the management of affairs, and the na- 
tion exhausted by exorbitant assessments. 

The revolt of the Catalans, which happened in 1640, at length 
determined the Portuguese to shake off the Spanish yoke. A 
conspiracy was entered into by some of the grandees, in concert 
with the Duke of Braganza, which broke out on the 1st Decem- 
ber that same year. On that day, at eight o'clock in the morn- 
ing, the conspirators, to the number of about four hundred, re- 
paired by different routes to the palace of Lisbon, where the 
vice-queen, Margaret of Savoy, and dowager of Mantua, resided, 
with Vasconcellos the Secretary of State, who exercised the 
functions of Prime Minister of the kingdom. Part of them dis- 
armed the guard of the palace, while others seized Vasconcel- 
los, who was the only victim that fell a sacrifice to the public 
vengeance. They secured the person of the vice-queen, and 
took measures to protect her from insult or violence. The con- 
spirators then proclaimed the Duke of Braganza King, under 
the title of John IV. That prince arrived at Lisbon on the 6th 
of December, and his inauguration took place on the 15th. It 
is not a little surprising that this revolution became general m 
eight days time, and that it was not confined merely to Portugal, 
but extended even to India and Africa. Every where the Por- 
tuguese expelled the Spaniards, and proclaimed the Duke of 
Braganza. The city of Ceuta in Africa, was the only town of 
which the Spaniards found means to retain possession. 

John IV. was descended in a direct line from Alphonso, na- 
tural son of John the Bastard, who was created Duke of Bra- 
ganza. The first care of this new King of Portugal, on his ac- 
cession to the throne, was to convene an assembly of the States 
at Lisbon, in order to make them acknowledge his right to the 
crown. The States, conformably to the fundamental laws of the 
kingdom, declared that Catherine, daughter of the infant Don 
Edward, and grandmother of King John, having become the 
true and legitimate heiress to the throne on the death of Henry 
the Cardinal, her grandson John IV. was entitled to the repos- 
session of those rights of which that princess had been unjustly 
deprived by the Spaniards. The better to establish himself on 
the throne, John concluded treaties of peace with France, the 
United Provinces, the Netherlands, and Sweden ; but confining 
his whole ambition to maintaining the ancient limits of the king- 
dom, he remained completely inactive with regard to Snain, 
which, being overpowered by numerous enemies, was quite in- 
^pable of carrying on the war with vigour against Portugal 
The truce and alliance which that Prince had entered into with 
the Dutch, did not prevent these republicans from contmuing 



PERIOD VI. A. D. 1453—1648. 257 

iheir conquests in India ; -yvhere, in process of time, they strip 
ped the Portuguese of their finest settlements. 

England, long before this time, had emerged from the state of 
turbulence and desolation into which she had been plunged by 
the destructive wars of the two Roses. A new family, that of 
fhe Tudors, had mounted the throne; Henry VII., who was its 
founder, claimed the crown in right of his mother Margaret 
Beaufort, alleged heiress of the house of Lancaster, or the Red 
Rose ; and raised an insurrection against Richard III., the last 
King of the House of York. This prince being defeated and 
slain at the battle of Bosworth (1485,) Henry, who was then 
proclaimed King of England, united the titles or claims of the 
two Roses, by his marriage with Elizabeth, daughter of Edward 
IV., and heiress of York, or the White Rose. The country be- 
ing thus restored to tranquillity after thirty years of civil war, 
every thing assumed a more prosperous appearance. Agricul- 
ture and commerce began to flourish anew. Henry applied 
himself to the restoration of order and industry. He humbled 
the factious nobles, and raised the royal authority almost to a 
state of absolute despotism. 

The reformatiom of religion in England began in the reign of 
his son Henry VIII. That Prince, who was of a very capricious 
character, vacillating continually between virtue and vice, ap- 
peared at first as the champion of Popery, and published a treatise 
against Luther, which procured him, from the Court of Rome, 
the title of Defender of the Faith. But a violent passion, which 
he had conceived for Anne Boleyn, having induced him to attempt 
a divorce from Catherine of Arragon, daughter of Ferdinand the 
Catholic, he addressed himself for this purpose to Pope Clement 
VII., alleging certain scruples of conscience which he felt on ac- 
count of his marriage with Catherine, who was within the de- 
grees of affinity, prohibited in the sacred Scriptures. The Pope 
being afraid to displease the Emperor Charles V., who was the 
nephew of Catherine, thought proper to defer judgment in this 
matter ; but the King, impatient of delay, caused his divorce to 
be pronounced by Thomas Cranmer, Archbishop of Canterbury 
(1532,) and immediately married Anne Boleyn. 

The sentence of the Archbishop was annulled by the Pope, 
who published a threatening bull against Henry. This incensed 
the King, who caused the Papal authority in England to be abro- 
gated by the Parliament, and installed himself in the capacity of 
supreme head of the English Church (1534 ;) a title which was 
conferred on him by the clergy, and confirmed by the Parliament. 
He also introduced the oath of supremacy, in virtue of which all 
who were employed in offices of trust, were obliged to acknow- 

17 



258 CHAPTER VII. 

ledge nim as head of the Church. A court of High Commission 
was established, to judge ecclesiastical causes in name of the 
king, and from whose sentence there was no appeal. The con- 
vents or monasteries were suppressed, and their revenues confis- 
cated to the crown (1536-1539.) Henry even became a dogma- 
tist in theology ; and discarding the principles of Luther, as well 
as those of Calvin and Rome, he framed a religion according to 
his own fancy. Rejecting the worship of images, relics, purga- 
tory, monastic vows, and the supremacy of the Pope, he gave his 
sanction, by the law of the Six Articles, to the doctrine of the 
real presence, the communion in one kind, the vow of chastity, 
the celibacy of the priests, the mass, and auricular confession ; 
inflicting very severe penalties on all who should deny or disobey 
one or other of these articles. 

This monarch, who was the first of the English kings that 
took the title of King of Ireland (1542,) was involved in the dis- 
putes which then embroiled the Continental powers ; but instead 
of holding the balance between France and Austria, he adhered 
in general to his friend and ally Charles V. against France. 
This conduct was regulated less by politics than by passion, and 
the personal interest of his minister Cardinal Wolsey, whom the 
Emperor had attached to his cause, by the hope of the papal tiara. 

The religion which Henry had planted in England, did not 
continue after his death. Edv/ard VI., his son and immediate 
successor, introduced pure Calvinism or Presbyterianism. 
Mary, daughter of Henry VIII., by Catherine of Arragon, on 
her accession to the throne, restored the Catholic religion (1553,) 
and likewise received the new legate of the Pope into England. 
She inflicted great cruelties on the Protestants, many of whom 
were burnt at the stake ; among others, Cranmer, Archbishop 
of Canterbury, and the Bishops of London and Worcester. 
With the view of more firmly establishing the Catholic religion 
m her dominions, she espoused Philip, presumptive heir to the 
Spanish monarchy (1554.) The restrictions with which the Eng- 
lish Parliament fettered his contract of marriage with the Queen, 
so displeased that prince, that, finding himself without po .ver or 
authority, he speedily withdrew from England. Mary's reign 
lasted only five years : she was succeeded by her sister Eliza- 
beth (1558,) daughter of Henry VIII., by Anne Bo'ejTi. This 
princess once more abrogated the authority of the Pope, and 
claimed to herself the supreme administration, both spiritual 
and temporal, within her kingdom. Though she adopted the 
Calvmistic principles in every thing regarding the doctrines of 
the Church, she retained many of the Romish ceremonies, and 
the erovernment of Bishops. It was this that gave rise to the 



I 

I 

I ! 



FEPXOD VI. 4.. D. 1453—1648. 259 

distinction between the English or High Church, and the Cal- 
vanistic or Presbyterian. 

About the time when the High Church par'y rose in England, 
a change of religion took place in Scotland, protected by Queen 
Elizabeth. The regency of that kingdom was then vested in 
the Queen-dowager, Mary of Lorraine, the widow of James V., 
and mother of Mary Stuart, Queen of Scotland and France- 
That princess, who was guided solely by the councils of her 
brothers of Lorraine, had introduced a body of French troops to 
repress the followers of the new doctrines, who had formed a 
new league, under the name of the Congregation. These, re- 
inforced by the Catholic malecontents, who were apprehensive 
of falling under a foreign yoke, took the resolution of applying 
for assistance to the English Queen, which it was by no means 
difficult to obtain. Elizabeth readily foresaw, that so soon as 
Francis became master of Scotland, he would attempt to enforce 
Mary's claims to the throne of England, grounded partly on the 
assumption of her being illegitimate. A considerable number of 
English troops were then marched to Scotland, and having 
formed a junction with the Scottish malecontents, they besieged 
the French in the town of Leith, near Edinburgh. The latter 
were soon obliged to capitulate. By the articles signed at Leith 
(1560,) the French and English troops were to evacuate Scot- 
land ; Francis IL King of France, and his wife Mary Stuart, 
were to renounce the titles and arms of the sovereigns of Eng- 
land, which they had assumed ; while a Parliament was to be 
assembled at Edinburgh for the pacification of the kingdom. 

The parliament which met soon after, ratified the Confession 
of Faith, drawn i.p and presented by the Presbyterian ministers. 
The Presbyterian worship was introduced into Scotland; and 
the parliament even went so far as to prohibit the exercise 
of the Catholic religion. Mary Stuart, on her return to Scot- 
land (1561,) after the death of her husband Francis, was obliged 
to acquiesce in all these changes ; and it was with difficulty she 
was allowed the liberty of having a Catholic chapel attached to 
her court. This unfortunate princess was afterwards accused 
of having caused the assassination of Henry Darnley, her se- 
cond husband ; and being obliged to fly the country, she took 
shelter in England (1568,) where she was arrested and impri- 
soned by order of Queen Elizabeth. After a captivity of nine- 
teen years she was sentenced to death, and beheaded (18th Feb. 
1587,) as an accomplice in the different plots which had been 
formed against the life of her royal relative. 

The troubles which the reformation of religion had excited in 
Scotland, extended also to Ireland. A kind of corrupt feudal 



260 CHAPTEK VII. 

sjrsTem had prevailed originally in that island, which Henry II. 
had not been able to extirpate. The English proprietors, who 
were vassals of tho crown, and governed by the laws of Eng- 
land, possessed nearly one-third of the whole country ; while 
the rest of the island was in the hands of the Irish proprietors, 
who, although they acknowledged the sovereignty of the Eng- 
lish kings, preserved nevertheless the language and manners of 
iJieir native land ; and were inclined to seize every opportunity 
of shaking off the English yoke, which they detested. Hence 
a continued series of wars and feuds, both among the Irish 
themselves, and against the English, who on their part had no 
other object than to extend their possessions at the expense of 
the natives. The kings of England, guided by an injudicious 
policy, for several centuries exhausted their resources in perpetual 
wars, sometimes against France, sometimes against Scotland, 
and sometimes against their own subjects, without paying the 
least attention to Ireland, of which they appear to have known 
neither the importance nor the effectual advantages which they 
might have reaped from it by means of a wise administration. 
The progress of agriculture and industry became thus completely 
impracticable ; a deep-rooted hatred was established between 
the islanders and the English, Avho in fact seemed two distinct 
nations, enemies of each other, and forming no alliances either 
by marriage or reciprocal intercourse. 

The resentment of the Irish against the English government 
was aggravated still more, at the time of the Reformation, by 
the vigorous measures that were taken, subsequently to the reign 
of Henry VIII., to extend to Ireland the laws framed in Eng- 
land against the court of Rome and the Catholic clergy. A 
general insurrection broke out in the reign of Elizabeth (1596,) 
the chief instigator of which was Hugh O'Neal, head of a clan 
in the province of Ulster, and Earl of Tyrone. Having gained 
over the whole Irish Catholics to his cause, he planned an ex- 
tensive conspiracy, with the design of effecting the entire expul- 
sion of the English from the island. Philip II., King of Spain, 
supplied the insurgents with troops and ammunition ; and Pope 
Clement VIII. held out ample indulgences in favour of those 
who should enlist under the banners of O'Neal, to combat the 
English heretics. This insurgent chief met at first with con- 
siderable success ; he defeated the English in a pitched battle, 
and maintained his ground against the Earl of Essex, whom 
Elizabeth had despatched to the island with a formidable army. 
The rebels, however, ultimately failed in their enterprise, after 
a sanguinary war which lasted seven years. Charles, Lord 
Mountjov. governor of Ireland, drove the insurgents to their last 



' PERIOD VI. A. D. 1453- - 1648. 261 

recesses, and had the glory of achieving the entire reduction of 
the island. ^ 

The maritime greatness of England began in the reign of 
Elizabeth. That Princess gave new vigour to industry and 
commerce ; and her efforts were seconded by the persecuting 
zeal of the French and Spanish governments. The numerous 
refugees from France and the Netherlands, found a ready asy- 
lum in England, under the protection of Elizabeth ; and her 
kingdom became, as it were, the retreat and principal residence 
of their arts and manufactures. She encouraged and protected 
navigation, which the English, by degrees, extended to all parts 
of the globe. An Englishman, named Richard Chancellor, 
having discovered the route to Archangel in the Icy Sea (1555,) 
the Czar, John Basilowitz II., granted to an English company 
the exclusive privilege of trading with Russia (1569.) The 
commerce of the English with Turkey and the Levant, which 
began in 1579, was likew^ise monopolized by a Company of mer- 
chants. Francis Drake, a distinguished navigator, and the rival 
of Magellan, was the first Englishman that performed a voyage 
round the world, between 1577 and 1580. The intercourse be- 
tween England and the East Indies began in 1591 ; and the 
East India Company was instituted in 1600. Attempts were 
also made, about the same time, to form settlements in North 
America ; and Walter Raleigh, who had obtained a charter from 
the Queen (1584,) endeavoured to found a colony in that part 
of the American Continent, now called Virginia, in compliment 
to Elizabeth. That colony, however, did not, properly speak- 
ing, take root or flourish till the reign of James I. The compe- 
tition with Spain, and the destruction of the Invincible Armada 
of Philip II., by the combined fleets of England and Holland, 
gave a new energy to the English marine, the value of which 
they had learned to appreciate, not merely in guarding the in- 
dependence of the kingdom, but in securing the prosperity of 
their commerce and navigation. 

The House of Tudor ended in Queen Elizabeth (1603,) after 
having occupied the throne of England about a hundred and 
eighteen years. It was replaced by that of the Stuarts. James 
VI., King of Scotland, son of Mary Stuart, and Henry Darnley, 
succeeded to the throne of England, and took the title of King of 
Great Britain, which his successors still retain. This prince de- 
rived his right to the crown, from the marriage of his great grand- 
mother, Margaret Tudor, daughter of Henry VII., with James 
IV. of Scotland. Vain of his new elevation, and fond of pre- 
rogative, James constantly occupied himself with projects for 
augmenting his royal power and authority in England ; and by 



262 



CHAPTER VII. 



instilling these principles into his son, he became the true archi- 
tect of all the subsequent misfortunes of his house. 

Charles I., the son and successor of James, seldom convened 
the Parliament ; and when they did assemble, he provoked them 
by the measures he proposed, and was then obliged to dissolve 
them. Being entirely guided by his ministers Laud, Arch- 
bishop of Canterbury, the Earls of Strafford and Hamilton, and 
his Queen, Henrietta of France, he ventured to levy taxes and 
impositions without the advice of Parliament. This conduct 
on the part of the King produced a general discontent. The 
flames of civil war began to kindle in Scotland, where Charles 
had introduced Episcopacy, as more favourable than Presbyte- 
rianism to royalty. But the Scottish nobility, having formed a 
confederacy, known by the name of the Covenant, for the main- 
tenance of their ecclesiastical liberties, abolished Episcopacy 
(1638,) and subsequently took up arms against the King. The 
Parliament of England, under such circumstances, rose also 
against Charles (1641,) and passed an act that they should not 
be dissolved without previously obtaining redress for the com- 
plaints of the nation. This act, which deprived the King of his 
principal prerogative, proved fatal to the royal dignity. A trial 
was instituted by the Parliament against the King's ministers. 
The Earl of Strafford and the Archbishop of Canterbury were 
beheaded ; and Charles had the weakness to sign the death-war 
rant of his faithful servants. 

The Presbyterians soon became the prevailing party, and ex- 
cluded the Bishops from the Upper House. The management 
of affairs fell then into the hands of the House of Commons ; 
Episcopacy was abolished ; and the Parliament of England ac- 
ceded to the Scottish Covenant. War now broke out between 
the King and the Parliament ; a battle was fought near York, 
m which the latter was victorious (1644.) Charles, seeing his 
affairs ruined, took the determination to throw himself into the 
arms of the Scots (1646,) who, he supposed, might still retain 
an affection for the race of their ancient Kings. He soon found 
reason, however, to repent of this step ; the Scots did not hesi- 
tate to sell him to the English Parliament for a sum of £400,000, 
Sterling, which they found necessary for the payment of their 
troops. 

A new revolution, which soon after happened in the Parlia- 
ment, completed the ruin of the King. The Presbyterians, or 
Puritans, who had suppressed the Episcopalians, were crushed, 
in their turn, by the Independents. These latter were a sort of 
fanatics, who admitted no subordination whatever in the Church, 
entertained a perfect horror for royalty, and were inclined for a 



PERIOD VI. A. D. 1453 — 1648. 



263 



republican or democratic form of government. The head and 
soul of this faction was the famous Oliver Cromwell, who, with 
great dexterity, made it an engine for raising himself to the 
sovereign authority. The whole power of the Legislature fell 
entirely into the hands of the Independent party; who, by one 
act, expelled sixty members from the House of Commons. The 
Parliament, now completely under their dominion, appointed a 
commission of a hundred and fifty persons, whom they vested 
with power to try the King. In vain did the Upper House 
oppose this resolution ; in vain did the King object to the Judges 
named by the House ; the commission proceeded, and pronounced 
the famous sentence, by virtue of which Charles was beheaded 
on the 30th of January 1649. His family were dispersed, and 
saved themselves by flight. 

The revolutions in the North of Europe, about the period of 
which we now speak, were not less important than those which 
agitated the West and the South. These arose chiefly from 
the dissolution of the Union of Calmar, and the reformation in 
religion ; both of which happened about the beginning of the 
sixteenth century. The Union of Calmar, between the three 
kingdoms of the North, had been renewed several times ; but, 
being badly cemented from the first, it was at length irreparably 
broken by Sweden. This latter kingdom had been distracted 
by intestine feuds, occasioned by the ambition and jealousy of 
the nobles, which continued during the whole reign of Charles 
VIII., of the House of Bonde, After the death of that Prince 
(1470,) the Swedes, without renouncing the Union, had regu- 
larly appointed as administrators of the kingdom, from the year 
1471 till 1520, three individuals of the family of Sture, viz. 
Steno Sture, called the Old, Suante Sture and Steno Sture, 
called the Young. 

Meantime, John, King of Denmark, and son of Christian I., 
had governed the three kingdoms since 1497, when Steno Sture 
the elder had resigned, until 1501, when he resumed the admin- 
istration. At length, however. Christian II., son of John, made 
war on Steno Sture, surnamed the Young, with a view to 
enforce the claims which he derived from the act of union. 
Being victorious at the battle of Bogesund, where Sture lost 
his life, he succeeded in making himself acknowledged by the 
Swedes as king, and was crowned at Stockholm (1520.) Within 
a short time after this ceremony, he violated the amnesty which 
he had publicly announced ; and to gratify the revenge of Gusta- 
vus Trolle, Archbishop of Upsal, whom the Swedes had deposed.; 
he caused ninety -four of the most distinguished personages in the 
kingdom to be arrested, and publicly beheaded at Stockholm 



264 



CHAPTER VII. 



This massacre caused a revolution, by which Sweden recover- 
ed its ancient state of independence. Gustavus Vasa put him- 
self at the head of the Dalecarlians, ambitious to become the 
liberator of his country (1521.) He was declared Regent, and 
two years after. King of Sweden. The example of the Swedes 
was soon followed by the Danes, who, indignant at the excesses 
and cruelties of Christian II., deposed him, and conferred their 
crown on Frederic, Duke of Holstein, and paternal uncle to that 
prince. Christian, after having long wandered about the Low 
Countries, was made prisoner by the Danes, and remained in 
captivity the rest of his days. The Kings of Denmark having 
renewed, from time to time, their pretensions to the Swedish 
throne, and still continued the three crowns on their escutcheon, 
several wars broke out on this subject between the two nations ; 
and it was not till the peace of Stettin (1570,) that the Danes 
acknowledged the entire independence of Sweden. 

Denmark then lost the ascendency which she had so long 
maintained in the North. The government of the kingdom un- 
derwent a radical change. A corrupt aristocracy rose on the 
ruins of the national liberty. The senate, composed wholly of 
the nobles, usurped all authority ; they overruled the election of 
the kings, and appropriated to themselves the powers of the 
States-General, which they had not convoked since 1536 ; they 
encroached even on the royal authority, which was curtailed 
more and more every day ; while the prerogatives of the nobility 
were extended by the conditions which the Senate prescribed to 
the kings on their accession to the crown. The reformation of 
religion took place in Denmark, in the reign of Frederic I., the 
successor of Christian II. That prince employed an eloquent 

Ereacher, named John Tausen, and several other disciples of 
lUther, to promulgate the Protestant doctrines in his kingdom. 
In a diet held at Odensee (1527,) the King made a public pro- 
fession of the new faith ; and, in spite of the remonstrances of 
the bishops, he passed a decree, in virtue of wliich, liberty of 
conscience was established, and permission granted to the priests 
and monks to marry. These articles were renewed in another 
diet, assembled at Copenhagen (1530;) where the King ratified 
the Confession of Faith presented to him by the Protestant min- 
isters, similar to what had taken place the same year at the diet 
of Augsburg. 

At length Christian III. who was elected in 1634, brought 
these changes in religion to a close. The bishops, during the 
last interregnum, had done every thing to stop the progress of 
the Reformation. The King, desirous of annihilating their 
temporal power, colluded with the principal nobility to have all 



PERIOD VI. A. I). 1453—1648. 265 

the bishops in the kingdom arrested ; and having then assem- 
bled a meeting of the States at Copenhagen, he abolished Epis- 
copacy, and suppressed the public exercise of the Catholic reli- 
gion. The castles, fortresses, and vast domains of the prelates 
were annexed to the crown ; and the other benefices and reve- 
nues of the clergy were appropriated to the support of the minis- 
ters of religion, public schools, and the poor. The monks and 
nuns were left at liberty, either to quit their convents, or remain 
there during their lives. The bishops were replaced by super- 
intendents, the nomination of whom was vested in the King; 
while each congregation retained the privilege of choosing its 
own pastors. From Denmark this revolution passed to Norway, 
which at that time, on account of having joined the party of 
Christian II., who was deposed by the Danes, lost its indepen- 
dence, and was declared a province of the kingdom of Denmark. 

The House of Oldenburg, which had occupied the throne of 
Denmark since 1448, was separated in the reign of Christian 
III. into two powerful branches, viz. the Royal, descended from 
that prince ; and the family of Holstein-Gottorp, descended from 
his brother the Duke Adolphus. This latter branch was after- 
wards divided into three others, viz. those of Russia, Sweden 
and Holstein-Oldenburg. As the law of primogeniture was not 
established in the dutchies of Sleswick and Holstein, which had 
fallen into the succession of the House of Oldenburg, the Kings 
of Denmark soon found themselves under the necessity of divi- 
ding these dutchies among the younger princes of their family. 
The treaty of partition, which was entered into (1544) between 
Christian III. and his brother, had been preceded by a treaty of 
perpetual union, annexing these dutchies to the kingdom, and 
intended to preserve the throne, which was elective, in the House 
of Oldenburg ; as well as to prevent any portion of these two 
dutchies from falling into the possession of strangers. The 
union was to endure as long as the descendants of Frederic I. 
reigned in Denmark. They promised to settle, by arbitration, 
whatever differences might arise between the states of the union , 
to afford each other mutual succour against every external ene- 
my ; and to undertake no war but by common consent. 

The treaty of 1544 which regulated this partition, made seve- 
ral exceptions of matters that were to be managed and adminis- 
tered in common; such as, the customs, jurisdiction over the 
nobles, the bishops, and certain cities. This gave rise to a sort 
of copartnership of power, common to all the princes of the union. 
Every thing regarding either the general safety as stipulated in 
the treaty, or the exercise of these privileges included in the ex 
ceptioQs, was to. be discussed and settled by unanimous consent ; 



266 CHAPTER VIl. 

and for this purpose a council of regency, an exchequer, aail 
common courts were established. This union and community 
of rights were followed, as a natural consequence, by long and 
destructive feuds between the Kings of Denmark and the Dukes 
of Holstein-Gottorp, in which the other powers of the North 
were also implicated. 

Christian IV., grandson of Christian III., was distinguished 
not more by the superiority of his talents, than by the indefati- 
gable zeal with which he applied himself to every department of 
the administration. It was in his reign that the Danes extend- 
ed their commerce as far as India. He founded the first Danish 
East India Company (1616,) who formed a settlement in Tran- 
quebar on the Coromandel coast, which had been ceded to them 
by the Rajah of Tanjore. Various manufactories of silk stuffs, 
paper, and arms, were constructed, and, several towns built un- 
der the auspices of Christian IV. The sciences were also much 
indebted to him ; he gave a new lustre to the University of Co- 
penhagen, and founded the Academy of Soroe in Zealand, be- 
sides a number of colleges. If he was unsuccessful in his wars 
against Sweden and Austria, it must be ascribed to the narrow 
limits of his power, to the influence of the aristocratic spirit, and 
of the feudal regime which still prevailed in Denmark. He 
succeeded, however, in excluding the Swedes from access to the 
Icy Sea, which opened them a Avay to the coasts of Lapland, by 
obtaining possession, at the peace of Siorod (1613,) of that part 
of Lapland which extends along the Northern and Icy Seas, 
from Titisfiord to Waranger and Wardhuys. The disputes con- 
cerning the three crowns was settled by the same treaty, in such 
a way that both sovereigns were permitted to use them, withoul 
authorizing the King of Denmark to lay any claim to the Swe- 
dish crown. 

Sweden, which had long maintained a struggle against Den*- 
mark, at length acquired such a preponderance over her as to 
threaten, more than once, the entire subversion of the throne. 
This preponderance was the achievement of two great men, who 
rose in the period we now speak of, viz. Gustavus Vasa, and his 
grandson Gustavus Adolphus. Gustavus Vasa was not merely 
the liberator, but the restorer of his country. Elevated to the 
throne by the free choice of the nation, he gave Sweden a power 
and an influence which it never had before. Every thing 
under him assumed a new aspect, the government, the religion, 
the finances, the commerce, the agriculture, the sciences and the 
morals of the Swedes. Instead of the assemblies of the nobles, 
formerly in use, and destructive of the national liberty, he sub- 
etituted Diets composed of the different orders of the State, the 



PERIOD VI, A. D. 1453—1648. 267 

nobility, the clergy, the citizens, and the peasantry. By this 
means he acquired a new influence, of which he took advantage 
to humble the power of the church and the nobles, which had 
long been a source of oppression to Sweden. 

The reformation of religion, which then occupied every mind, 
appeared to Gustavus a very proper expedient to second his 
views, and introduce a better order of things. On his accession 
to the throne, he authorized the two brothers Olaus and Lau- 
rentius Petri, to preach publicly at Stockholm the doctrines of 
Luther, and did every thing in his power to accelerate the pro- 
gress of the Reformation in his kingdom. The bishops, who 
were apprehensive for their benefices and their authority, having 
dra\vn the greater part of the nobility over to their interest, the 
king, in the presence of a Diet of the four orders assembled at 
Westeras, took the determination of formally abdicating the 
crown. This step threw the Diet into a state of consternation, 
and encouraged the two lower orders, the citizens and peasants, 
to declare themselves loudly for the King. The bishops and 
nobles were obliged to comply ; and the King, resuming the 
reins of government, succeeded in overruling the deliberations 
of the Diet. By the authority of a decree, he annexed the strong 
castles of the bishops to the demesnes of the crown, and retrench- 
ed from their vast possessions whatever he judged convenient. 
The prelates at the same time were excluded from the senate ; 
the ties that bound them to the Court of Rome were broken ; 
and they were enjoined henceforth to demand confirmation from 
the King, and not from the Pope. The revenues of the clergy 
in general, and those of the convents, were left at the free dis- 
posal of the king, and the nobles were permitted to bring forward 
whatever claims they could adduce over lands granted to these 
convents by their ancestors. There was nothing now to retard 
the march of reformation. The Lutheran religion was introdu- 
ced universally into Sweden, and that event contributed not a 
little to exalt the royal authority. 

Gustavus secured the hereditary succession of the crown in 
favour of his male descendants. The States, anxious to obvi- 
ate the troubles and disorders which the demise of their kings 
had often produced, regulated the succession by an act known 
by the name of the Hereditary Union. It was passed at Ore- 
bro (1540,) and ratified anew by the States assembled at Wes- 
teras. The Union Act was renewed at the Diet of Nordkoping, 
in the reign of Charles IX. (1604,) when the succession was 
extended to females. 

The reign of Gustavus Adolphus, the son of Charles IX., 
raised the glory of Sweden to its height. The virtues and 



26S CHAPTER vn. 

energies of that prince, the sagacity of his views, the admirable 
order which he introduced into every branch of the administra- 
tion, endeared him to his subjects ; while his military exploits, 
and his superiority in the art of war, fixed upon him the admi- 
ration of all Europe. 

Gustavus brought the wars, which he had to sustain against 
the different powers of the North, to a most triumphant conclu- 
sion. By the peace which he concluded at Stolbova with Rus- 
sia (1617,) he obtained possession of all Ingria, Kexholm, and 
Russian Carelia ; and even cut that Empire off from all com- 
munication with Europe by the Gulf of Finland and the Baltic 
Sea. His success Avas not less brilliant in his campaigns against 
Sigismund III., King of Poland, who persisted in contesting 
with him his right to the crown of Sweden. He took from the 
Poles the whole of Livonia, with a part of Prussia ; and kept 
possession of these conquests by the six years truce which he 
concluded with the latter at Altmark (1629.) 

It was about this time that Sweden began to occupy a distin- 
guished place among the powers of Europe ; and that she was 
called on to take the lead in the League which was to protect 
the Princess and States of the Empire against the ambition of 
Austria. Gustavus, who was in alliance with France, under- 
took a task as difficult as it was glorious. In the short space of 
two years and a half, he overran two-thirds of Germany with 
his victorious arms. He vanquished Tilly at the famous battle 
of Leipsic (1631,) and extended his conquests from the shores 
of the Baltic to the Rhine and the Danube. Every thing yield- 
ed before him, and every place opened its gates to him. This 
great prince, who had made war a new art, and accustomed his 
army to order, and a system of tactics never before known, per- 
ished at the memorable battle of Lutzen (1632,) which the 
Swedes gained after his death, in consequence of the skilful dis- 
positions he had formed. 

This war was continued under the minority of Queen Chris- 
tina, his daughter and heir. It was still carried on, although 
the Swedes had undertaken a new war against Denmark, with 
the view of disengaging themselves from the mediation which 
Christian IV. had undertaken between the Emperor and Swe- 
den, ai the congress which was to meet at Munster and Osna- 
burg. The result of that war was completely to the advantage 
of Sweden, which gained by the peace of Bromsbro (1645) the 
freedom of the Sound, as also the possession of the provinces 
and islands of Jamptland, Herjedalen, Gothland, Oesel, and Hal- 
land. Lastly, the peace of Westphalia secured to Sweden con- 
siderable possessions on the southern coast of the Baltic Sea, 
such as Wismar, Bremen and Verden, and part of Pomerania. 



PERIOD VI. A. D. 1453—1648. I»e9 

The power of the Teutonic Knights, which had been greatly 
reduced during the preceding period, by the defection of a part 
of Prussia, was completely annihilated in the North, in conse- 
q'lence of the changes introduced by the reformation of religion. 
Albert of Brandenburg, grandson of the Elector Albert Achilles 
on his elevation to the dignity of Grand Master of the Order, 
tliought himself obliged to withdraw from Poland that fealty and 
homage to which the Knights had bound themselves by the 
treaty of Thorn in 1466. This refusal furnished matter for a 
war between them ; which began in 1519, and ended in 1521, 
by a truce of four years ; at the expiration of which the Grand 
Master, who saw the doctrines of Luther disseminated in Prus- 
sia, and who had himself imbibed these principles in Germany, 
found means to settle all differences with the King of Poland, 
by a treaty which he concluded with him at Cracow (1521.) 
He there engaged to do homage and fealty to the cro\vn of Po- 
land, which he had refused; and Sigismund I., who was his 
maternal uncle, granted him Teutonic Prussia, with the title of 
Dutchy. as a hereditary fief, both for himself and his male-heirs, 
and for his brothers of the House of Brandenburg and Franconia, 
and their feudal heirs ; reserving the right of reversion in favour 
of Poland, failing the male-descendants of these princes. 

The Teutonic Knights thus lost Prussia, after having possess- 
ed it for nearly three hundred years. Retiring to their pos- 
sessions in Germany, they established their principal residence 
at Mergentheim in Franconia, where they proceeded to the elec- 
tion of a new Grand Master, in the person of Walter de Cron- 
berg. The Poles, in getting rid of the Teutonic Knights, whom 
they had regarded with jealousy, and substituting the House of 
Brandenburg in their place, never dreamed of adopting an enemy 
still more dangerous, who would one day concert the ruin and 
annihilation of their country. 

Immediately after the treaty of Cracow, the new Duke of 
Prussia made a public profession of the Lutheran religion, and 
married a daughter of the King of Denmark. This princess 
dying without male issue, he married for his second wife a prin- 
cess of the Brunswick family, by whom he had a son, Albert 
Frederic, Avho succeeded him in the dutchy of Prussia. The 
race of these new dukes of Prussia (1568,) as well as that of 
Franconia, which should have succeeded them, appearing to be 
nearly extinct, Joachim II., Elector of Brandenburg, obtained 
from the King of Poland the investiture of Prussia, in fief, con- 
junctly with the reigiiing dukes. This investiture, which was 
renewed in favour of several of his successors, secured the suc- 
cession of that dutchy in the electoral family of Brandenburg; to 



II 



270 



CHAPTER VII. 



whom it devolved on the death of Albert Frederic (1618,) who 
left no male descendants. He was succeeded by the Elector 
John Sigismund, who had been coinvested with him in the 
dutchy. That prince, who had married Anne, eldest daughter 
of Albert Frederic, obtained likewise, in right of that princess, 
part of the succession of Juliers, viz. the dutchy of Cleves, the 
counties of Marck and Ravensberg, which had been adjudged 
to the house of Brandenburg, by the provisional act of partition 
concluded at Santern (1614,) and converted into a definitive 
treaty at Cleves. The grandson of John Sigismund, the Elector 
Frederic William, was a prince of superior genius, and the true 
founder of the greatness of his family. Illustrious in war as in 
peace, and respected by all Europe, he acquired by the treaty of 
Westphalia, a part of Pomerania, the archbishopric of Magde- 
burg under the title of a dutchy, with the bishoprics of Halber- 
stadt, Minden,and Camin, under the title of principalities. His 
son Frederic was the first King of Prussia. 

[The Teutonic Knights had nearly lost Livonia at the begin- 
ning of the sixteenth century ; but that province was saved by 
the courage and talents of the Provincial Master, Walter de 
Plattenberg. The Grand Duke Iwan, or John III., having 
threatened Livonia with an invasion, Plattenberg concluded a 
defensive alliance at Walik (1501,) with Alexander II., Grand 
Duke of Lithuania, and the bishops of that country. After having 
assembled troops to the number of 14,000 men, he defeated the 
Russian army, which was 40,000 strong, at Maholm ; a second 
victory, which he gained with the same number of troops over 
100,000 Russians at Pleskow (1502,) is one of the most famous 
exploits in the history of the North. Next year he concluded a 
truce of six years with the Livonian Order, which was afterwards 
renewed for fifty years. 

It is commonly said that Walter, the Provincial Master, taking 
advantage of the distresses of the Teutonic Knights, and urging 
the repeated succours which he had furnished them against the 
Poles, purchased from them his own independence, and that of 
his Order ; but a recent author (Le Comte de Bray) has shown 
that this was not exactly the case. By a first agreement signed 
at Koningsberg (1520,) Albert of Brandenburg, who was then 
only Grand Master of the Teutonic Order, confirmed to the 
Knights of Livonia the free right of electing a chief of their own 
number, promising to sustain the individual whom they should 
nominate. He secured them the possession of the whole sove- 
reignty of Reval and Narva ; the countries of Altentirken, Jer- 
wen, and Wierland ; as also the town and castle of Wesenberg, 
with their dependencies. This agreement was revived and 
ratified by a second, signed at Grobin (1525.) when it was for- 



PERIOD VI. A. D. 145*3—1648. a/i 

mally stipulated, that the relations between the Knights of Li- 
vonia and the Teutonic Order should be maintained as they wpre. 
and that the Livonians should continue to regard the Grand 
Master as their true head, and render him homage and obe- 
dience. They were forbidden to solicit from the Emperor ot 
the Pope any privilege inconsistent with their allegiance. It ap- 
pears, consequently, that Walter de Plattenberg did not purchat-'e 
the independence of his Order, but that he regarded those ties 
which existed between it and the Teutonic Order as broken, 
when Albert of Brandenburg was declared Duke of Prussia. He 
next renewed those connexions with the German Empire, which 
had existed since the thirteenth century ; and was declared bj 
Charles V. (1527) a prince of the Empire, having a vote and a 
seat in the Diet. 

It was during the mastership of Plattenberg that the Lutheran 
doctrines penetrated into Livonia, where they made rapid pro- 
gress, especially in the cities. Walter dexterously turned the 
disturbances caused by the opposition of the clergy to the new 
tenets, into an occasion for establishing his authority over all 
Livonia and Esthonia, which the Order had formerly shared 
with the bishops. The citizens of Eiga acknowledged him as 
their only sovereign, and expelled the archbishop. The bur- 
gesses of Revel followed their example. The clergy were so 
frightened at these movements, that the archbishop of Riga, and 
the bishops of Dorpat, Oesel, Courland and Revel, formally sub- 
mitted to the Order. The clergy themselves soon after embraced 
the reformed religion.] 

The dominion of the Knights Sword-bearers, had continued 
in Livonia until the time of the famous invasion of that country 
by the Czar, John Basilovitz IV. That prince, who had laid 
open the Caspian Sea by his conquest of the Tartar kingdoms of 
Casan and Astrachan, meditated also that of Livonia, to obtain 
a communication with Europe by the Baltic. Gotthard Kettler, 
who was then Grand Master, finding himself unable to cope 
with an enemy so powerful, implored first the assistance of the 
Germanic Body, of which he was a member ; but having got 
nothing but vague promises, he next addressed himself to Sigis- 
mund Augustus, King of Poland, and, in concert with the arch- 
bishop of Riga, he concluded with that prince a treaty of sub- 
mission at Wilna (1561;) in virtue of which, the whole of 
Livonia, with Esthonia, Courland and Semigallia, comprising 
not only what was still in the possession of the Order, but those 
parts which had boen seized by the enemy, were ceded to the 
crown of Poland and the Grand Duke of Lithuania, on condi- 
tion that the use of the Confession of Augsburg should be pre- 
erved on the same footing as it then was, and that aU orders of 



272 cHArTER Tn. 

the State should be maintained in their goods, properties, rights, 
privileges and immunities. 

By ;his same treaty, Courland and Semigallia were reserved 
:o Gotthard Kettler, the last Grand Master of Livonia, to be 
onjoyed by himself and his heirs-male, with the title of dutchy. 
and as a fief of the king and crown of Poland. The new Duke, 
on taking the oath of fidelity to the King of Poland, solemnly 
laid aside all the badges of his former dignity. He married 
Anne, daughter to the Duke of Mecklenburg-Schewerin, and 
transmitted the dutchy of Courland to his male-descendants, 
who did not become extinct until the eighteenth century. The 
Order of Livonia was entirely suppressed, as were also the 
archbishoprics of Riga, and the bishoprics under its jurisdiction. 

The revolution in Livonia caused a violent commotion among 
the powers of the North, who were all eager to share in the 
plunder. While the Grand Master of the Order was in treaty 
with Poland, the city of Revel, and the nobles of Esthonia, left 
without aid, and oppressed by the Russians, put themselves undei 
the protection of Eric XIV., King of Sweden, who obtaineo 
possession of that province. The Isle of Oesel, on the contrary, 
and the district of Wyck in Esthonia, were sold to Frederic II. 
King of Denmark, by the last bishop of the island, who also 
ceded to him the bishopric and district of Pilten in Courland. 
Poland at first held the balance, and maintained Livonia against 
the Russians, by the peace which she concluded with that power 
at Kievorova-Horca (1582.) A struggle afterwards ensued be- 
tween Poland and Sweden for the same object, which was not 
finally terminated until the peace of Oliva (1660.) 

Russia, during the period of which we now treat, assumed 
an aspect entirely new. She succeeded in throwing off the 
yoke of the Moguls, and began to act a conspicuous part on the 
theatre of Europe. The Horde of Kipzach, called also the 
Grand, or the Golden Horde, had been greatly exhausted by its 
territorial losses, and the intestine wars which followed ; while 
the Grand Dukes of Moscow gained powerful accessions by the 
union of several of these petty principalities, which had for a 
long time divided among them the sovereignty of Northern Rus- 
sia. John Basilovitz III., Avho filled the grand ducal throne 
about the end of the fifteenth century, knew well how to profit 
by these circumstances to strengthen his authority at home, and 
make it respected abroad. In course of severai expeditions, he 
subdued the powerful republic of Novogorod, an ancient ally of 
the Hanseatic towns, and which had for a long time affected an 
entire independence. He was also the first sovereign of Russia 
that dared to refuse a humihating ceremony, according to which 
the Grand Dukes were obliged to walk on foot before the envcys 



I PERIOD VI. A. D. 1453—1648. 273 

that came from the Khan of Kipzach. He even suppressed the 
residence of Tartar envoys at his court ; and at length shook 
off their yoke entirely, refasing to pay the tribute which the 
Grand Dukes had owed to the Khans for several centuries. 
Achmet, Khan of Kipzach, having despatched certain deputies 
with an order, under the great seal, to demand paymenV of this 
tribute, the Grand Duke trampled the order under his feet, spit 
upon it, and then put all the deputies to death except one, whom 
he sent back to his master. 

The Khan, with the view of revenging that insult, invaded 
Russia several times, but the Grand Duke vigorously repulsed 
.ill his attacks ; and while he was arresting the progress of his 
arms on the borders of the Ugra, he despatched a body of troops 
to the centre of the Grand Horde, who laid every thing desolate 
(1481.) The Nogai Tartars joined the Russians to finish the 
destruction of the Grand Horde, whose different settlements on 
the Wolga they laid completely in ruins ; so that nothing more 
remained of the powerful en ^ ire of Kipzach than a few de- 
tached hordes, such as those of Casan, Astracan, Siberia, and 
the Crimea. Iwan rendered himself formidable to the Tartars ; 
he subdued the Khans of Casan, and several times disposed of 
their throne. The entire reduction of that Tartar state was ac- 
complished by his grandson, John Basilovitz IV., who twice 
undertook the siege of Casan, and seized and made prisoner 
of the last Khan (1552.) The fall of Casan was followed by that 
of Astracan. But John was by no means so fortunate in his en- 
terprises against Livonia, which, as we have already said, he was 
obliged to abandon to Poland by the peace of Kievorova-Horca. 

John IV. was inspired ■with noble views of policy. Being 
anxious to civilize his subjects, he sent for workmen and artists 
from England. He requested Charles V. to send him men of 
talents, well versed in the different trades and manufactures. 
He introduced the art of printing at Moscow, and established 
the first permanent army in the country, that of the Strelitzes, 
which he employed in keeping the nobles in check. The dis- 
covery of Siberia is one of the events that belong to his reign. 
A certain chief of the Don Cossacks, named Jermak, who em- 
ployed himself in robberies on the borders of the Wolga and the 
Caspian Sea, being pursued by a detachment of Russian troops, 
retired to the confines of Siberia. He soon entered these re- 
gions at the head of seven thousand Cossacks, and having gained 
several victories over the Tartars of Siberia, and their Khan 
Kutschem^ he got possession of the city of &ibir, Avhich was their 
principal fortress (1581.) Jermak, in order to obtain his pardon 
of the Czar, made him an offer of all he had conquered ; which 
was agreed to bv that Prince, and' the troops of the Russians 

l8 



274 CHAPTER vn. 

then took possession of Siberia (1583.) The total reduction of 
the country, however, did not take place until the reign of the 
Czar Theodore or Fedor Iwanovitz, the son and successor of 
John, who built the city of Tobolsk (1587,) which has since be- 
come the capital of Siberia. 

Fedor Iwanovitz, a prince weak both in mind and body, was 
entirely under the counsels of his brother-in-law Boris Godunow, 
who, with the view of opening a way for himself to the throne, 
caused the young Demetrius, Fedor's only brother, to be assas- 
sinated (1591.) This crime gave rise to a long series of trou- 
bles, which ended in the death of Fedor (1598.) With him, as 
he left no children, the reigning family of the ancient sovereigns 
of Kussia, the descendants of Ruric, became extinct ; after having 
occupied the throne for more than eight hundred years. 

After this, the Russian Crown was worn by persons of diffe- 
rent houses. Their reigns were disturbed by various preten- 
ders, who assumed the name of Demetrius, and were supported 
by the Poles. During fifteen years Russia presented a shock- 
ing spectacle of confusion and carnage. At length, as a remedy 
for these disasters, they thought of bestowing the cro^vn on a 
foreign prince. Some chose Charles Philip, the brother of Gus- 
-tavus Adolphus of Sweden ; and others voted for Uladislaus, the 
son of Sigismund IV., King of Poland. These resolutions tended 
only to increase the disorders of the state. The Swedes took ad- 
vantage of 'hem to seize Ingria and the city of Novogorod ; while 
the Poles took possession of Smolensko and its dependencies. 

The Russians, now seeing their monarchy on the edge of a 
precipice, adopted the plan of electing a new Czar of their own 
nation. Their choice fell on Michael Fedrovitz, who became 
the founder of the new dynasty, that of Romanow (1613,) under 
whom Russia attained to the zenith of her greatness. That 
prince, guided by the sage councils of his father, Fedor Roma- 
now, Archbishop of Rostow, soon rectified all the disorders of 
^.he state ; he purchased peace of the Swedes, by surrendering 
lo them Ingria and Russian Carelia. The sacrifices which he 
made to Poland, were not less considerable. By the truce of 
Divilina (1618,) and the peace of Wiasma (1634,) he ceded to 
them the vast territories of Smolensko, Tschernigou, and Novo- 
gorod, with their dependencies. 

Poland, at this time, presented a corrupt aristocracy, which 
had insensibly degenerated into complete anarchy. The nobles 
were the only persons that enjoyed the rights of citizenship ; 
they alone were represented in the Diets, by the nuncios or de- 
puties which they elected at the Dietines ; the honours and dig- 
nities both in church and state, and in general all prerogatives 
whatever, were reserved for them; while the bvirgesses and 



• PERIOD VI. A. D. 1453—1648. 276 

peasantry alone supported the whole burden of expenses. This 
constitution, at the same time, was under the control of a sort of de- 
mocracy, in as far as the nobles, without exception, were held to 
be perfectly equal in their rights and dignities. Imperfect as a 
government must have been, established on such a basis, it still 
continued, nevertheless, to preserve some degree of vigour ; and 
Poland supported, though feebly, the character of being the ru- 
ling power of the North, so long as the House of Jagellon occu- 
pied the throne. Besides Prussia, of which she had disposses- 
sed the Teutonic Knights, she acquired Livonia, and maintained 
it in spite of Russia. 

The reformation of religion was likewise promulgated in Po- 
land, where it was particularly patronized by Sigismund II. A 
great part of the senate, and more than half of the nobility 
made, with their King, a profession of the new opinions ; and if 
the reformation did not take deeper root in that kingdom, or if it 
had not a more conspicuous influence on the civilization of the 
people, it was from the want of a middle class in the kingdom, 
by which it could be supported. 

The male line of Jagellon, having become extinct with Sigis- 
mund II. (1572,) the throne became purely elective; and it was 
ordained that, during the King's life, no successor could be ap- 
pointed ; but that the States, on his demise, should enjoy for 
ever a perfect freedom of election on every vacancy of the throne. 
Such was the origin of the Diets of Election, which, from their 
very constitution, could not fail to be always tumultuous in their 
proceedings. The nobles in a body appeared at these Diets • 
thither they repaired in arms and on horseback, ranked accord- 
ing to the order of the Palatinates, in a Camp prepared for the 
purpose near "Warsaw. The custom of the Pacta Conventa. 
took its rise about the same time. Henry de Valois, who was 
elected King on the death of Sigismund II., was the first that 
swore to these conventional agreements, [by which he engaged, 
that no foreigner should be introduced either in a civil or mili- 
tary department.] These Pacta., which had all the force of a 
fundamental law, specified those conditions under which the 
throne was conferred on the new monarch. The royal authori- 
ty was thus curtailed more and more, and the prerogatives of 
the nobility exalted in proportion. 

Poland, in consequence, soon lost its influence; the govern- 
ment was altered in its fundamental principles, and the kingdom 
plunged into an abyss of calamities. Among the elective Kings 
who succeeded Henry de Valois, the last that supported the dig- 
nity of the crown against Russia, was Uladislaus IV., the son of 
Sigismund III., of the House of Vasa. In an expedition which 
he undertook into the interior of Russia (1618,) he penetrated 



276 CflAPTEH VII. 

as far as Moscow ; and in a second which he made (1634,) he 
compelled the Russians to raise the siege of Smolensko ; and 
shut them up so closely in their camp, that they were obliged to 
capitulate for want of provisions. He then made a new attack 
on the capital of Russia ; and at the peace of Wiasma, he ob- 
tained conditions most advantageous to Poland. 

In the history of Hungary, the most splendid era was the 
reign of Matthias Corvin, who, at the age of scarcely sixteen, 
had been raised to the throne by the free choice of the nation 
(14f58.) Like his father the valorous John Hunniades, he was 
the terror of the Turks during his whole reign ; he took Bosnia 
from them, and kept Transylvania, Wallachia, Moldavia, Scla- 
vonia, and Servia in dependence on his crown, in spite of the 
incessant efforts which the Turks made to rescue these provinces. 
He likewise conquered Moravia, Silesia, and Lusatia ; he even 
took Austria from the Emperor Frederic III., and came to fix 
his residence at Vienna (1485.) It was in that city that he ter- 
minated his brilliant career, at the early age of forty-seven (1490.) 
That great prince added to his military talents, a love for elegant 
literature, of which, from the first revival of letters, he showed 
himself a zealous protector. 

The glory of Hungary suffered an eclipse in the loss of Mat- 
thias. His successors, Uladislaus II., the son of Casimir IV. 
King of Poland, and Louis the son of Uladislaus, who held at 
the same time the crown of Bohemia, were weak and indolent 
princes, who saw Hungary torn by factions, and ravaged with 
impunity by the Turks. Soliman the Great taking advantage 
of the youth of Louis, and the distressed state in which Hungary 
was, concerted his plans for conquering the kingdom. He at- 
tacked the fortress of Belgrade (1521,) and made himself master 
of that important place, before the Hungarians could march to 
Its relief. His first success encouraged him to return to the 
charge. Having crossed the Danube and the Drave without 
meeting with any resistance, he engaged the Hungarians near 
Mohacz (1526,) in that famous battle which cost them the life 
of their king and their principal nobility. Twenty-two thousand 
Hungarians were left on the field of battle, and the whole king- 
dom lay at the mercy of the conqueror. Soliman now proceeded 
as far as the Raab ; but instead of completing the conquest of 
Hungary as he might have done, he contented himself with the 
laying waste all that part of the country with fire and sword ; 
and carrying several hundred thousand prisoners into slavery. 

The premature death of the young King who left no progeny, 
occasioned a vacancy in the throne of Hungary and Bohemia. 
Ferdinand of Austria who married Anne, sister to Louis, claimed 
the succession in virtue of the different treaties signed in the 



PERIOD VI. A. D. 1453 — 1648. 277 

years 1463, 1468, 1491, and 1515, between the Austrian princes 
and the last kings of Hungary. But though the Bohemian 
States were disposed to listen to the pretensions of Ferdinand, 
it was not so with those of Hungary, who transferred the crown 
to John de Zapolya, Count of Zips, and Palatine of Transylvania. 
That prince being hardly pressed by Ferdinand, at length de- 
termined to throw himself under the protection of the Turks. 
Soliman marched in person to his assistance, and laid siege to 
the city of Vienna (1529.) In this enterprise, however, he failed, 
after sacrificing the lives of nearly eighty thousand men. 

In 153S, a treaty was agreed on between the two competitors, 
in virtue of which the whole kingdom of Hungary, on the death 
of John Zapolya, was to devolve on Ferdinand. This treaty 
was never carried into execution. John at his death having 
left a son named John Sigismund, then an infant in his cradle, 
Bishop George Martinuzzi, prime minister of the deceased king, 
proclaimed the young prince, and secured for him the protec- 
tion of the Turks. Soliman undertook a new expedition into 
Hungary in his favour (1541 ;) but by a piece of signal perfidy, 
he took this occasion to seize the city of Buda, the capital of the 
kingdom, and several other places ; and banished the prince 
with his mother the queen-dowager, to Transylvania, which he 
gave up to him, with several other districts in Hungary. The 
city of Buda with the greater part of Hungary and Sclavonia 
remained in the power of the Turks ; and Ferdinand was obliged 
to pay an annual tribute for the protection of that kingdom, the 
possession of which was guaranteed to him by the truce which 
he concluded with them in 1562. 

In the midst of these unfortunate events, the Austrian princes 
had again the imprudence to alienate the affections of the Hun- 
garians, by the intolerant spirit they displayed, and the efforts 
which they incessantly made to extirpate the Protestant religion 
from that kingdom. The opinions of Luther and Calvin had 
already been propagated in Hungary during the reign of Louis, 
the predecessor of Ferdinand. They had even made great pro- 
gress ; especially in Transylvania, where the German language 
and literature were generally cultivated. The oppressions which 
the partisans of the new doctrines experienced, added to the at- 
tempts which the Austrian princes made, from time to time, to 
subvert the ancient constitution of the kingdom, excited fresh 
troubles, and favoured the designs of the discontented and am- 
bitious, who were watching their opportunity to agitate the 
state, and make encroachments on the government. Stephen 
Boischkai, Bethlem Gabor, and George Ragoczi, princes of 
Transylvania, were successively the chiefs or leaders of these 



278 CHAPTEE vn. 

malecontents, in the rejgns of Rodolph II., Ferdinand 11., and 
Ferdinand III., Emperors of Germany. According to the Paci- 
fication of Vienna (1606,) and that of Lintz (1645,) as well as 
by the decrees of the Diet of Odenburg (1622,) and of Presburg 
(1647,) these princes were compelled to tolerate the public exer- 
cise of the reformed religion ; and to redress the political com- 
plaints of the Hungarian malecontents. 

The same troubles on the score of religion, which infested 
Hungary, extended likewise to Bohemia, where the new doc- 
trines met with a much better reception, as they were in unison 
with the religious system of the Hussites, who had already nu- 
merous partisans in that kingdom. It was chiefly under the 
reign of the mild and tolerant Maximilian II. that Protestantism 
made its way in Bohemia. All those who were formerly called 
Utraquists, from their professing the Communion in both kinds, 
joined the followers either of Luther or Calvin. Rodolph II., 
the son and successor of Maximilian, was obliged, at the Diet of 
Prague (1609,) to grant them the free exercise of their worship, 
without distinction of place ; and even to extend this indulgence to 
the Protestants of Silesia and Lusatia by letters-patent, known 
by the name o{ Letters of Majesty ; copies of which were made 
at Prague on the 11th of July and 20th of August 1609. These 
letters were confirmed by King Matthias, on his accession to the 
throne ot Bohemia; as also by Ferdinand III., when he was 
acknowledged by the Bohemian States, as the adopted son and 
successor of Matthias. 

The different interpretations which were put on these letters 
occasioned the war, known in history by the name of the Thirty 
Years' War. The Emperor Matthias happening to die in the 
midst of these disturbances, the Bohemian States, regarding 
their crown as elective, annulled the election of Ferdinand II. 
(1619,) and conferred the crown on Frederic, the Elector Pala- 
tine. Being in strict alliance with the States of Silesia, Mora- 
via, and Lusatia, they declared war against Ferdinand, who was 
supported, on the other hand, by Spain, the Catholic princes of 
the Empire, and the Elector of Saxony. 

The famous battle of Prague (1620,) and the fall of the Elec- 
tor Palatine, brought about a revolution in Bohemia. The ring- 
leaders of the insurrection were executed at Prague, and their 
goods confiscated. Ferdinand, who treated that kingdom as a 
conquered country, declared that the States had forfeited their 
rights and privileges ; and, in the new constitution which he 
gave them, he consented to restore these, only on condition of 
expressly excepting the rights which they had claimed in the 
election of their kings, a? well as the Letters of Majesty which 



PERIOD VI. A. D. 1453—1648. 279 

granted to the Protestants the free exercise of their worship 
But this prince did not stop with the suppression of their reli- 
gious liberties, he deprived them also of their rights of citizen- 
ship. Laws the most atrocious were published against them, 
and he even went so far as to deny them the liberty of making 
testaments, or contracting legal marriages. All their ministers, 
without exception, were banished the kingdom ; and the most 
iniquitous means were employed to bring back the Protestants 
to the pale of the Catholic Church. At length it was enjoined, 
by an edict in 1627, that all Protestants who persisted in their 
opinions should quit the kingdom within six months. Thirty 
thousand of the best families in the kingdom, of whom a hun- 
dred and eighty-five were nobility, abandoned Bohemia, trans- 
porting their talents and their industry to the neighbouring 
States, such as Saxony, Brandenburg, Prussia, &c. 

Ferdinand judged it for his interest to detach the Elector of 
Saxony from the alliance with Sweden, which he had joined. 
He concluded a special peace with him at Prague, in virtue ol 
which he made over to him the two Lusatias, Avhich he had dis- 
Htiembered from the kingdom of Bohemia, to reimburse the Elec- 
tor for those sums which he claimed, as having been the ally of 
Austria against the Elector Palatine, then King of Bohemia. 
That province was ceded to the Elector John George, for him- 
self and his successors, as a fief of the Bohemian crown, under 
the express condition, that failing the male line of the Electoral 
branch, it should pass to the female heirs ; but that it should 
then be at the option of the King of Bohemia to use the right of 
redemption, by repaying to the female heirs the sum for which 
Lusatia had been mortgaged to Saxony. This sum amounted 
to seventy-two tons of gold, valued at seven millions two hundred 
thousand florins. 

The Turkish empire received new accessions of territory, both 
in Asia and Europe, under the successors of Mahomet II., who 
had fixed their capital at Constantinople. The conquest of Bes- 
sarabia belongs to the reign of Bajazet II., about the year 1484 
That prince had a brother named Jem or Zizim, who had been 
his competitor for the throne ; and having fled to Rome, he was 
imprisoned by order of Pope Alexander VI., at the instance of 
Bajazet, who had engaged to pay the Pope a large pension for 
him. Charles VIII. of France, when he made his expedition 
into Italy for the conquest of Naples, compelled the Pope to sur- 
render up the unfortunate Zizim, whom he designed to employ 
in the expedition which he meditated against the Turks, but 
which never took place. Selim I. the son and successor of Ba- 
jazet, taking advantage of a revolution which happened in Persia, 
and of the victory which he gained near Taurus over the Schaw 



280 CHAPTER VII. 

Ismail Sophi I. (1514,) conquered the provinces of Diarbekir 
and Algezira, beyond the Euphrates. 

The same prince overturned the powerful Empire of the Ma- 
melukes, who reigned over Egypt, Syria, Palestine, and part of 
Arabia. He defeated the last Sultans, Cansoul-Algouri, and 
Toumanbey (1516,) and totally annihilated that dynasty. Cairo, 
the capital of the Empire of Egypt, was taken by assault (1517,) 
and the whole of the Mameluke States incorporated with the 
Ottoman Empire. The Scheriff of Mecca likewise submitted 
to the Porte, with several tribes of the Arabs. 

Soliman the Great, who succeeded his father Selim, raised 
the Turkish Empire to the highest pitch of glory. Besides the 
island of Rhodes, which he took from the Knights of St. John, 
and the greater part of Hungary, he reduced the provinces of 
Moldavia and Wallachia to a state of dependence, and made 
their princes vassals and tributaries of his Empire. He likewise 
conquered Bagdad and Irak- Arabia, which happened, according 
to the Turkish authors, about the year 1534. 

That prince distinguished his reign, by the efforts which he 
made to increase the maritime strength of the Empire, which 
his predecessors had neglected. He took into his service the 
famous pirate Barbarossa, King of Algiers, whom he created 
Capitan Pacha, or Grand Admiral. Barbarossa equipped a fleet 
of more than a hundred sail, with which he chased the Imperi- 
alists from the Archipelago ; and infested the coasts of Spain, 
Italy and Sicily (1565.) Soliman miscarried, however, in his 
enterprise against Malta. The courageous defence made by the 
Knights, together with the arrival of the fleet from Sicily, obliged 
the Ottomans to retreat. 

The decline of the Ottoman Empire began with the death of 
Soliman the Great (1566.) The sultans, his successors, sur- 
rendering themselves to luxury and effeminacy, and shut up in 
their seraglios and harems, left to their Grand Viziers the gov- 
ernment of the Empire, and the management of the army. The 
sons of these Sultans, educated by women and eunuchs, and se- 
cluded from all civil and military affairs, contracted from their 
earliest infancy all the vices of their fathers, and no longer 
brought to the throne that vigorous and enterprising spirit, 
which had been the soul of the Ottoman government, and the 
basis of all their institutions. Selim II., the son of Soliman, 
was the first who set this fatal example to his successors. In 
his time, the Turks took the Isle of Cyprus from the Venetians 
(1570,) which they maintained in spite of the terrible defeat 
which they received at Lepanto (1571,) and which was followed 
by the ruin of their marine. 



CHAPTER VIII. 

PERIOD VII. 

From the Peace of Westphalia, to that of Utrecht. — a. d. 1648 — 

1713. 

The political system of Europe underwent a great cnange at 
the commencement of this period. France, after having long 
struggled for her own independence against Austria, at length 
turned the balance, and became so formidable as to combine 
against herself the whole policy and military power of Europe. 
The origin of this extraordinary influence of France, belongs to 
the reigns of Charles VII., and Louis XI. Several important 
accessions which she made at this epoch, together with the 
change which happened in her government, gave her a power 
and energy, which might have secured her a decided preponde- 
rance among the Continental States, had not her influence been 
overbalanced by Austria, which, by a concurrence of fortunate 
events, and several wealthy marriages, had suddenly risen to a 
degree of power that excited the jealousy of all Europe. Hence, 
for nearly two hundred years, it required all the political re- 
sources of France to make head against her rival ; and what 
added to her misfortunes was, that, though freed from the dis- 
traction of the Italian war, she was still agitated by civil wars?, 
which employed her whole military force. 

It was not till near the middle of the seventeenth century that 
she extricated herself from this long struggle ; and that, disen- 
gaged from the shackles of her own factions and internal dis- 
sensions, her power assumed a new vigour. The well regulated 
condition of her finances, the prosperity of her commerce and 
manufactures, and the respectable state of her marine, all con- 
curred to diffuse wealth and abundance over the kingdom. 
The abasement of the House of Austria, effected at once by the 
treaties of Westphalia and the Pyrenees, together with the 
consolidation of the Germanic body, and the federal system of 
the Provinces in the Netherlands, put the last climax on her 
glory, and secured to her the preponderance in the political scale 
of Europe. This change in her political system was achieved 



282 CHAPTER vm. 

principally by the two great statesmen, Cardinals Richelieu and 
Mazarin, who, by drying up the fountains of civil dissensions, 
and concentrating the reins of authority in the hands of the go- 
vernment, raised that monarchy to the rank which its position, 
its population, and its internal resources, had assigned it among 
the powers of the Continent. 

Mazarin left the kingdom in a flourishing state to Louis XIV., 
who, aided by the counsels and assistance of the famous Col- 
bert, became the patron of letters and the fine arts, and finished 
the work which was begun by his prime minister. Nothing 
could equal the ardour which inspired that prince for military 
fame. France would have been prosperous under his reign, 
and respected even by all Europe, had he kept nothing else in 
view than the true interests and happiness of his people ; but 
he was ambitious of that sort of glory which is the scourge of 
mankind, the glory of heroes and conquerors. Hence there re- 
sulted a long series of wars, which exhausted the strength and 
resources of the state, and introduced a new change in its po- 
litical system. The same States which had formerly made 
common cause with France against Austria, now combined 
against the former, to humble that gigantic power which seemed 
to threaten their liberty and independence. 

[In these alliances the maritime powers voluntarily took part ; 
and, having less fear than the others of falling under the yoke 
of a universal monarchy, they joined the Confederates merely 
for the protection of their commerce — the true source of their 
influence and their wealth. They undertook the defence of the 
equilibrium system, because they perceived, that a State which 
could command the greater part cf the continental coasts, might 
in many ways embarrass their commerce, and perhaps become 
dangerous to their marine. They soon acquired a very great 
influence in the affairs of this system, by the subsidies with 
which from time to time they furnished the States of the Con- 
tinent. From this period the principal aim of European policy 
was their finances and their commercial interests, in place ol 
religion, which had been the grand motive or pretext for the 
preceding wars. "With this new system began those abuses oi 
commercial privileges and monopolies, prohibitions, imposts, 
and many other regulations, which acted as restraints on natural 
liberty, and became the scourge of future generations. It was 
then that treaties of commerce first appeared, by which every 
trading nation endeavoured to procure advantages to itself, at 
the expense of its rivals ; and it was then that the belligerent 
powers began to lay restraints and interdicts on the commerce 
of neutral States. 



PERIOD vn. A. D. 164S— 1713. 283 

But the political system of Europe experienced other changes 
at this period. Standing armies were introduced, and augment- 
ed to a degree that proved ruinous both to the agriculture of the 
inhabitants, and the finances of the government, which, by this 
means, was rendered more and more dependent on those States. 
whose principal object was commerce. The frequent commu- 
nication between foreign courts, which the policy of Richelieu 
had rendered necessary, gave occasion for envoys and resident 
ministers ; whereas formerly scarcely any other intercourse was 
known, except by extraordinary embassies.] 

The first war that roused the European powers, was thai 
which Louis XIV. undertook against Spain, to enforce the 
claims which he advanced, in name of his Queen Maria The- 
resa, over several provinces of the Spanish Netherlands, espe- 
cially the dutchies of Brabant and Limburg, the seigniories of 
Mechlin, the marquisate of Antwerp, Upper Gueldres, the 
counties of Namur, Hainault and Artois, Cambray and Cam- 
bresis, which he alleged belonged to him, in virtue of the jus 
devolutionis, according to the usage of that country. According 
to that right, the property of goods passed to the children of the 
first marriage, when their parents contracted another. Maria 
Theresa, Queen of France, was the daughter, by the first mar- 
riage of Philip IV. King of Spain; whereas Charles II., his 
successor in that monarchy, was descended of the second mar- 
riage. Louis XIV. contended, that from the moment of Philip's 
second marriage, the property of all the countries, which were 
affected by the right of devolution, belonged to his Queen ; and 
that, after the death of her father, that Princess should enjoy 
the succession. In opposition to these claims of France, the 
Spaniards alleged, that the right of aevolution, being founded 
merely on custom, and applicable only to particular successions, 
could not be opposed to the fundamental laws of Spain, which 
maintained the indivisibility of that monarchy, and transferred the 
whole succession to Charles II. without any partition whatever. 

In course of the campaign of 1667, the French made them- 
selves masters of several cities in the Low Countries, such as 
Bruges, Fumes, Armentieres, Charleroi, Binch, Ath, Tournay, 
Douay, Courtray, Oudenarde, and Lille ; and in course of the 
following winter, they got possession of Franche-Comte. The 
Pope and several princes having volunteered their good offices 
for the restoration of peace, they proposed a congress at Aix-la- 
Chapelle ; but the principal scene of the negotiation was at the 
Hague, where Louis sent the Count d'Estrades, to treat sepa- 
rately with the States-General. This negotiation was greatly 
accelerated by the famous Triple Alliance, concluded at the 



284 CHAPTER vin. 

Hague 1668, between Great Britain, Sweden, and the States- 
General. By the terms of this treaty, the Allied Powers re- 
quired Louis to offer Spain the option, either to leave him in 
possession of the places which he had conquered, during the 
campaign of 1667, or to cede to him either the dutchy of Lux- 
emburg, or Franche-Comte with the cities of Cambray, Douay 
Aire, St. Omer, and Fumes, with their dependencies. The 
Spaniards having accepted the former of these alternatives, the 
draught of a treaty of peace was agreed on, and signed by the 
ministers of France, England, and the States-General ; and this 
scheme served as the basis of the treaty, which was concluded 
at Aix-la-Chapelle, between France and Spain (May 2d 1668.) 
In consideration of the restitutions which she had made to Spain, 
France retained, in terms of this treaty, the towns of Charleroi, 
Binch, Ath, Douay, Tournay, Oudenarde, Lille, Armentieres, 
Courtray, Bergues, and Fumes, with their bailiwicks and de- 
pendencies. 

This peace was soon followed by a new war, which Louis 
XIV. undertook against the Republic of the Seven United Pro- 
vinces. Wishing to be avenged on the Dutch, whom he knew 
to be the principal authors of the Triple Alliance, and consult- 
ing only his own propensity for war, he alleged, as a pretext, 
certain insulting medals which had been struck in Holland, on 
the peace of Aix-la-Chapelle, and the Triple Alliance.^ In vain 
did the States-General offer him every satisfaction ; he persist- 
ed in his purpose of declaring war ; and the better to succeed in 
his design, he endeavoured first to dissolve the Triple Alliance. 
Colbert de Croissy, whom he sent to England, found means to 
detach Charles II. from the alliance, ana to draw him over to 
side with Louis against the Republic. The same success at- 
tended the negotiation which he set on foot with the Court of 
Stockholm. Following the example of England, the Swedes 
renounced the Triple Alliance, and joined with France. Seve- 
ral princes of the Empire, such as the Electoi of Cologne and 
the Bishop of Munster, adopted the same line of conduct. The 
war broke out in 1672; and so rapid were the conquests of 
Louis, that he subdued in one single campaign the provinces of 
Gueldres, Utrecht, Overyssel, and part of Holland. He would 
have carried the city of Amsterdam, if the Dutch had not cut 
their dikes and inundated the country. 

Alarmed at these extraordinary successes, and apprehending 
the entire subversion of the Republic, the Emperor Leopold 1. 
the King of Spain, the Elector of Brandenburg, and the Impe- 
rial States, leagued in their favour, and marched to their relief. 
The Parliament of England obliged Charles II. to make peace 



PERIOD VII. A. D. 1648—1713. 285 

with the Republic, by refusing to grant him supplies (1674.) 
The Elector of Cologne and the Bishop of Munster did the 
aame thing. Louis XIV. then tliought proper to abandon his 
f^onquests in Holland ; and directed his principal strength againsi 
Spain and the Germanic Stages. He subdued Franche-Com^e 
in the spring of 1674 ; and in course of the same year, the 
Prince of Conde gained the battle of Senef. In the following 
winter Turenne attacked the quarters of the Imperialists in 
Alsace, and chased them from that province, in spite of their 
superior numbers. That great general was slain at Saspach in 
Ortenau when he was on the point of fighting the famous battle 
with Montecuculi (11th Aug. 1674.) Next year Admiral do 
Quesne gained two naval victories, near the islands of Lipari 
and Messina, over De Ruyter, who died of the wounds he had 
received. 

The Swedes, according to the secret articles of their alliance 
with France, had penetrated, in the month of December 1674, 
into the Electorate of Brandenburg, to cause a diversion against 
the Elector Frederic William, who commanded the Imperial 
army on the Rhine ; but the Elector surprised them by forced 
juarches at Rathenow, and completely routed their army near 
Fehrbellin (1675.) The Emperor then declared war against 
Sweden ; and the Elector, in concert with the princes of Bruns- 
wick, the Bishop of Munster, and the King of Denmark, strip- 
ped the Swedes of the greater part of their possessions in the 
Empire. 

At length, in the years 1678-79, a peace was concluded at 
Nimeguen, under the mediation of England. Louis XIV. con- 
trived to divide the allies, and to make a separate treaty with 
the Dutch, by which he restored to them the city of Maestricht, 
which he had again seized. The example of the Dutch was fol- 
lowed by the Spaniards, who in like manner signed a special 
treaty with France ; in virtue of which, they gave up to her 
Franche-Comte, with several cities in Flanders and Hainault, 
such as Valenciennes, Bouchain, Conde, Cambray, Aire, St. 
Omer, Ypres, Warwick, Warneton, Poperingen, Bailleul, Cas- 
sel, Bavay, and Maubeuge, with their dependencies. The peace 
of Munster (1648) was renewed by that which was concluded 
at Nimeguen, between France, the Empire, and the Emperor. 
France, on renouncing her right to a garrison in Philipsburg, 
got possession of the city of Friburg in Brisgaw, but refused to 
restore what she had wrested from the Duke of Lorraine, except 
on conditions so burdensome, that the Duke would not accept 
them and preferred to abandon the repossession of his dutchy. 
As to the peace which France and Sweden had negotiated with 



286 CHAPTER VIII. 

Denmark and her allies the Princes of the Empire, it was re- 
newed by different special treaties, concluded in course of the 
year 1679. 

No sooner was the peace of Nimegnen concluded, than there 
sprung up new troubles, known by the name of the Troubles of 
the Reu7iio7is. Louis XIV., whose ambition was without bounds, 
had instituted a Chamber of Reunion, in the parliament of Metz- 
for the purpose of examining the nature and extent of the terri- 
tories ceded to him by the treaties of Westphaha, the Pyrenees, 
Aix-ia-Chapelle, and Nimeguen. This Chamber, as well as the 
Parliament of Besan9on, and the Sovereign Council of Alsace, 
adjudged to the King, by their decree, several towns and seignio- 
ries, as being fiefs or dependencies of Alsace ; as also the three 
bishoprics, Franche-Comte, and the territories which had been 
ceded to him in the Netherlands. 

The King's view^s were principally directed to Alsace. He 
had already tendered his claims on this province, shortly after 
the peace of the Pyrenees, when the matter had been referred 
to the decision of arbiters chosen by the Emperor himself. The 
work of arbitration was not far advanced, when it was inter- 
rupted by the Dutch war, in which the Emperor and the Em- 
pire were both implicated. The peace of Nimeguen having 
confirmed the treaty of Munster, he preferred the method of re- 
union to that of arbitration, for reclaiming his alleged rights. 
Taking advantage of the general terms in which the cession of 
Alsace was announced in the seventy-third and seventy-fourth 
articles of the said treaty, he claimed the absolute sovereignty 
of the whole province, and obliged the immediate states, inclu- 
ded in it, to acknowledge his sovereignty, and to do him fealty 
and homage, notwithstanding the reservations which the eighty- 
seventh article of the same treaty had stipulated in favour of 
these very States. M. de Louvois appeared before Strasburg 
at the head of the French army, and summoned that city to sub- 
mit to the King. Accordingly, it surrendered by capitulation 
on the 30th September 1681. These reunions extended also to 
the Netherlands, where the French seized, among others, the 
cities of Courtray, Dixmude and Luxemburg. 

Louis XIV., in thus taking upon himself alone the interpre- 
tation of these treaties of peace, could not but offend the powers 
interested in maintaining them. A new general league was 
projected against France, and at the Diet of Ratisbon they de- 
liberated on the means of setting on foot an Imperial army ; but 
the want of unanimity among the members of the Germanic bo- 
dy the troubles in Hungary, which were immediately succeed- 
ed by a war with the Porte, and the march of a Turkish army 



PERIOD VII. A. D. 1648—1713. 287 

on Vienna, threw them into a state of consternation, and pre- 
vented the Imperial Diet from adopting any vigorous resolution. 
Spain, exhausted by protracted wars, and abandoned by Eng- 
land and Holland, was quite incapacitated from taking arms. 
Nothing else, therefore, remained for the parties concerned, than 
to have recourse to negotiation. Conferences were opened at 
Frankfort, which, after having languished for fifteen months in 
that city, were transferred to Ratisbon, where a truce of twenty 
years was signed (15th August 1684) between France and Spain; 
as also between France, the Emperor and the Empire. By the 
former of these treaties, Louis retained Luxemburg, Bo vines, 
and Chimay, with their dependencies ; restoring all the places 
which he had occupied in the Netherlands prior to the 20th Au- 
gust 1683. As to the treaty between France and the Emperor, 
the former retained, during the truce, the city of Strasburg, and 
the fort of Kehl, besides all the places and seigniories which 
they had taken possession of, since the conunencement of the 
troubles till the 1st of August 1681. In all the places that were 
surrendered to him, Louis preserved the exercise of his sover- 
eign rights, leaving to the proprietors or seigniors the entire en- 
joyment of the fruits and revenues belonging to their territorial 
rights. 

It was nearly about this same time that Louis XIV. under- 
took to extirpate Calvinism from France. Incensed against the 
Protestants by the old chancellor Letellier, and his minister Lou- 
vois, the chancellor's son, he circumscribed, by repeated declara- 
tions, the privileges which they enjoyed in virtue of former 
edicts. The holding of general synods was forbidden ; the two 
Chambers were suppressed ; and they were all, without excep- 
tion, debarred from exercising any public function. At last, 
Louis went so far as to send, immediately after the truce of Ra- 
tisbon (1684,) dragoons over all France, to endeavour, as was 
said, to convert the Protestants by gentle compulsion. This 
measure was next followed by the famous Edict of 1685, which 
revoked that of Nantes, published in 1598, and that of Nismes 
in 1629. All exercise of their religion — all assemblies for wor- 
ship, even in the house, were forbidden to the Protestants, under 
pain of imprisonment and confiscation of goods. Their churches 
were ordered to be demolished. Parents were enjoined to have 
their children baptized by the Catholic clergy, and to bring them 
up in the religion of the state. The ministers were banished, 
and the other Protestants were forbidden to depart the country, 
under pain of the galleys for men, and imprisonment and confis- 
cation for women. The rigour of these prohibitions, however, 
did not prevent a vast multitude of the French Protestants from 



288 CHAPTER vni. 

removing to foreign countries, and transferring the seat of their 
industry to Germany, England, and Holland. 

This blindfold zeal for religion, however, did not hinder Louis 
from vigorously supporting the rights of his crown against the 
encroachments of the court of Rome. Among the different dis- 
putes that arose between him and the Popes, that which regard- 
ed the prerogative of Regale deserves to be particularly remark- 
ed. The King, by declarations issued in 1673 and 1675, having 
extended that right to all the archbishoprics and bishoprics within 
the kingdom, the bishops of Aleth and Pamiers, who pretended 
to be exempt from it, applied to the Pope, claiming his protection. 
Innocent XI. interposed, by vehement briefs which he addressed 
to the King in favour of the bishops. This induced Louis to 
convoke an assembly of the French clergy, in which, besides 
the extension of the Regale, he caused them to draw up the four 
famous propositions, which are regarded as the basis of the li- 
berties of the Galilean Church. These propositions were, (1.) 
That the power of the Pope extends only to things spiritual, and 
has no concern with temporal matters. (2.) That the authority 
of the Pope in spiritual affairs is subordinate to a general coun- 
cil. (3.) That it is even limited by the canons, the customs, 
and constitution of the kingdom and the Galilean Church. (4.) 
That in matters of faith the Pope's authority is not infallible. 

The truce which had been concluded for twenty years at Ra- 
tisbon, continued only four ; at the end of which Louis again 
took up arms. He pretended to have got information, that the 
Emperor Leopold only waited till the conclusion of the peace 
with the Turks, to make war upon him ; and he thence inferred, 
that prudence required him rather to anticipate his enemy, than 
allow himself to be circumvented. In proof of this assertion, 
he cited the treaty concluded at Augsburg in 1686, between the 
Emperor, the King of Spain, the States-General, Sweden, the 
Duke of Savoy, and the principal States of the Empire, for the 
maintenance of the treaties concluded with France. Louis 
wished moreover to enforce the claims which the Dutchess of 
Orleans, his sister-in-law, alleged to the succession of the Pala- 
tinate. That princess was the sister of Charles, the last Elector 
Palatine, of the family of Simmern, who died in 1685. She 
did not dispute the fiefs with her brother's successor in the 
Electorate ; she claimed the freeholds, which comprehended a 
considerable part of the Palatinate ; while the new Elector, 
Philip William, of the family of Neuburg, maintained thac, ac- 
cording to the laws and usages of Germany, the entire succes- 
sion belonged to him, without any partition whatever. 

Besides these motives which Louis XIV. set forth in a long 




Execution of Charles I. 1649. P. 2G3. 




Cromwell dissolving the Long Parliament. P. -OG. 



PERIOD vn. A. D. 1648 — 1713. 289 

manifesto, there was another which he kept concealed, the ob- 
ject of which was, to prevent the expedition which the Prince 
of Orange. Stadtholder of the United Provinces, was preparing 
to send to England, against James II. his brother-in-law, who 
had become odious to the whole English nation. It was of great 
importance for France to maintain, on the throne of Great Bri- 
tain, a prince whom she protected, and who would always es- 
pouse her interests ; while it was easy to foresee, that if the 
Prince of Orange, the declared enemy of Louis, and the author 
of the league of Augsburg, should succeed in uniting the crown 
of England to the stadtholdership, he would not fail to employ 
this new influence, and turn the combined force of both states 
against France, The only method of preventing an event so 
prejudicial to the true interests of that kingdom would have been 
doubtless, to equip an expedition, and pitch his camp on the 
frontiers of Holland. The Court of France knew this well, and 
yet they contented themselves with sending an army to the 
Khine, v/hich took possession of Philipsburg, Mayence, and the 
whole Palatinate, as well as a part of the Electorate of Treves 
(Sept. and Oct. 1688.) Louvois, the French minister who di- 
rected these operations, had flattered himself that the Dutch, 
when they beheld the war breaking out in their vicinity, avouM 
not dare to take any part in the troubles of England. In this 
opinion he was deceived ; the Prince of Orange, supported by the 
Dutch fleet, effected a landing in England (16th November 1688.) 
The revolution there was soon completed, by the dethronement 
of James II. ; and Louis XIV., ending where he should have 
begun, then declared war against the States-General. This 
mistaken policy of the French minister became the true source of 
all the subsequent reverses that eclipsed the reign of Louis XIV. 
A powerful league was now formed against France, which 
was joined successively by the Emperor, the Empire, England, 
Holland, Spain and Savoy (1689.) Louis XIV., in order to 
make head against these formidable enemies, recalled his troops 
from those places which they occupied in the Palatinate, and on 
the banks of the Rhine ; but in Avithdrawing them, he ordered 
a great number of the towns to be burnt to ashes, and laid waste 
the whole country. By this barbarity, which circumstances by 
no means called for, he only aggravated the hatred and increased 
the ardour of his enemies. War was commenced by sea and 
land ; in Italy, Spain, Ireland, the Low Countries, and on the 
Rhine. Louis supported it nobly against a great part of Europe, 
now combined against him. His armies were victorious every 
where. Marshal Luxembourg signalized himself in the cam- 
paigns of Flanders, by the victories which he gained over the 

19 



290 CHAPTER vm. 

allies at Fleurus (1st July 1690,) Steinkirk (3d Aug. 1692,) and 
Landen or Nerwinden (29th July 1693.) In Italy. Marshal Cn- 
tinat gained the battle of Stafarda (18th Aug. 1690,) and Mar- 
saglia (4th Oct. 1693) over the Duke of Savoy. The naval 
glory of France vi^as virell supported by the Count de Tourville 
at the battles of Beachy-head (10th July 1690,) and La Hogue 
(29th May 1692.) 

However brilliant the success of her arms might be, the pro- 
digious efforts which the war required could not but exhaust 
France, and make her anxious for the return of peace. Besides, 
JiOLiis XIV. foresaw the approaching death of Charles II. of 
Spain ; and it was of importance for him to break the grand 
alliance as soon as possible ; as one of its articles secured the 
succession of the Spanish monarchy to the Emperor and his 
descendants, to the exclusion of the King of France. In this 
case, he wished, for his own interest, to give every facility for 
the restoration of peace ; and by the treaty which he concluded 
separately with the Duke of Savoy, he granted that Prince, be- 
sides the fortress of Pignerol, and the marriage of his daughter 
with the Duke of Burgundy, the privilege of royal honours for 
his ambassadors. This treaty, concluded at Turin (29th Aug. 
1696,) was a preliminary to the general peace, signed at Rys- 
wick, between France, Spain, England, and Holland (20th Sept. 
1697.) Each of the contracting parties consented to make 
mutual restitutions. France even restored to Spain all the towns 
and territories which she had occupied in the Low Countries, 
by means of the reunions ; with the exception of eighty-two 
places, mentioned in a particular list, as being dependencies of 
Charlemont, Maubeuge, and other places ceded by the preceding 
treaties. Peace between France, the Emperor, and the Empire 
was also signed at Ryswick. The treaties of Westphalia and 
Nimeguen were there renewed ; and the decrees of the Cham- 
ber of Reunion at Metz, and of the Sovereign Courts at Besan- 
9on and Brisach, were rescinded and annulled. Louis XIV. 
engaged to restore to the Empire all that he had appropriated to 
himself, by means of the reunions, either before or during the 
waT ; that is to say, all places situated or acquired beyond the 
bounds of Alsace. The city of Strasburg was ceded to France, 
by a particular article of the treaty ; but the fortress of Kehl, the 
cities of Friburg, Brisach, and Philipsburg, were surrendered to 
the Emperor. Leopold, Duke of Lorraine, and son of Charles 
v.. was reinstated in his dutchy, without any other reservation 
(ban that of Saar-Louis, and the city and prefecture of Longwy 
As to the claims of the Dutcher:s of Orleans on the Palatinate 
they were submitted to the arbitration of the Emperor and the; 



PERIOD vn. A. D. 1648—1713. 291 

King of France ; to be referred to the decision of the Pope, 
should these two Sovereigns happen to differ in opinion. 

The peace of Ryswick was followed by the war of the Spanish 
Succession, which embroiled Europe afresh, and occasioned 
considerable changes in its political state. Charles II. King of 
Spain, son of Philip IV., and last male descendant of the Spanish 
branch of the House of Austria, having neither son, nor daughter, 
nor brother, the Spanish monarchy, according to a fundamental 
law of the kingdom, which fixed the succession in the cognate 
line, appeared to belong to Maria Theresa, Queen of France 
eldest sister of Charles, and to the children of her marriage with 
Louis XIV. To this title of Maria Theresa, was opposed her 
express renunciation, inserted in her marriage-contract, and con- 
firmed by the peace of the Pyrenees ; but the French maintained, 
that that renunciation was null, and that it could not prejudice 
the children of the Queen, who held their right, not from their 
mother, but by the fundamental law of Spain. 

Admitting the validity of the Queen's renunciation, the lineal 
order fixed the Spanish succession on her younger sister, Mar- 
garet Theresa, who had married the Emperor Leopold I., and 
left an only daughter, Maria Antoinette, spouse to the Elector 
of Bavaria, and mother of Joseph Ferdinand, the Electoral 
Prince of Bavaria. 

The Emperor, who wished to preserve the Spanish monarchy 
m his own family, availed himself of the renunciation which he 
had exacted from his daughter, the Archdutchess Maria Antoi- 
nette, when she married Maximilian, the Elector of Bavaria, to 
appear as a candidate himself, and advance the claims of his 
mother, Maria Anne, daughter of Philip III. King of Spain, and 
aunt of Charles II. He alleged, that the Spanish succession 
had been secured to this latter Princess, both by her marriage- 
contract, and by the testaments of the Kings of Spain ; and as 
he had two sons, the Archdukes Joseph and Charles, by his 
marriage with the Princess Palatine of Neuburg, he destined 
the elder for the Imperial throne and the States of Austria, and 
the younger for the Spanish monarchy. 

These different claims having excited apprehensions of a ge- 
neral Avar, England and Holland, from a desire to prevent it, 
drew up a treaty of partition, in concert with Louis XIV. (11th 
Oct. 1698,) in virtue of which the Spanish monarchy was se- 
cured to Joseph Ferdinand, in case of the death of Charles II. ; 
while the kingdom of the Two Sicilies, with the ports of Tusca- 
ny, the marquisate of Finale, and the province of Guipuscoa, 
were reserved to the Dauphin of France. The Archduke 
Charles, son to the Emperor, was to have the dutchv of Milan. 



292 CHAPTER vm. 

Although the King of Spain disapproved of the treaty, 30 far as 
it admitted a partition, nevertheless, in his will, he recognised 
(he Prince of Bavaria as his successor in the Spanish monarchy. 

A premature death having frustrated all the high expectations 
of that prince, the powers who had concluded the first treaty ot 
partition drew up a second, which was signed at London (March 
13, 1700.) According to this, the Archduke Charles, youngest 
son of the Emperor Leopold, was destined the presumptive heir 
to the Spanish monarchy. They awarded to the Dauphin the 
dutchy of Lorraine, with the kingdom of the Two Sicilies, and 
the province of Guipuscoa ; assigning to the Duke of Lorraine 
the dutchy of Milan in exchange. Louis XIV. used every effort 
to have this new treaty of partition approved by the Court of 
Vienna. He sent thither the Marquis Villars, who, after having 
been long amused with vague promises, failed entirely in his 
negotiation ; and the Emperor, whose main object was to con- 
ciliate the Court of Madrid, lost the only favourable moment 
which might have fixed the succession of the Spanish monarchy 
in his family, with the consent of Louis XIV. and the principal 
Courts of Europe. 

At Madrid, this affair took a turn diametrically opposite to 
the vacAvs and interests of the Court of Vienna. Charles II., 
following the counsels of his prime minister, Cardinal Porto- 
carrero, and after having taken the advice of the Pope, and of 
the most eminent theologians and lawyers in his kingdom, de- 
termined to make a second will, in which he recognised the 
rights of Maria Theresa, his eldest sister ; and declared, that as 
the renunciation of that princess had been made solely to pre- 
vent the union of Spain with the kingdom of France, that mo- 
tive ceased on transferring the Spanish monarchy to one of the 
younger sons of the Dauphin. Accordingly, he nominated Phi- 
lip of Anjou, the Dauphin's second son, heir to his whole do- 
minions ; in case of his death, the Duke of Berri, his younger 
brother ; next, the Archduke Charles ; and lastly, the Duke of 
Savoy ; expressly forbidding all partition of the monarchy. 

Charles II. having died on the 1st of November following, 
the Junta, or Council of Regency, which he had appointed by 
his will, sent to Louis XIV., praying him to accede to the set- 
tlement of their late King, and give up his grandson to the 
wishes of the Spanish nation. The same courier had orders to 
pass on to Vienna, in case of a refusal on his part, and make 
the same offer to the Archduke. The Court of France then 
assembled a Grand Council, in which they held a deliberation 
as to what step it was best to adopt, in an affair which so nearly 
concerned the general repose of Europe. The result of this 



PERIOD VII. A. D. 1648—1713. 293 

Council was, that they ought to accpde to the will of Charles 
II.. and renounce the advantages which the second treaty of 
partition held out to France. It was alleged, as the reason of 
this resolution, that by refusing to accept the will, Louis must 
either abandon altogether his pretensions to the Spanish mo- 
aarchy, or undertake an expensive war to obtain by conquest 
what the treaty of partition assigned him ; without being able, 
in this latter case, to reckon on the effectual co-operation of the 
two maritime courts. 

Louis XIV. having therefore resolved to accede to the will, 
Philip of Anjou was proclaimed King by the Spaniards, and 
made his solemn entry into Madrid on the 14th of April 1701. 
Most of the European powers, such as the States of Italy, Swe- 
den, England, Holland, and the kingdoms of the North, ac- 
knowledged Philip V. ; the King of Portugal, and the Duke of 
Savoy even concluded treaties of alliance with him. More- 
over, the situation of political affairs in Germany, Hungary, and 
the North was such, that it would have been easy for Louif 
XIV., with prudent management, to preserve the Spanish crown 
on the head of his grandson ; but he seemed, as if on purpose, 
to do every thing to raise all Europe against him. It was al- 
leged, that he aimed at the chimerical project of universal mo- 
narchy, and the union of France with Spain. Instead of trying 
to do away this supposition, he gave it additional force, by 
issuing letters-patent in favour of Philip, at the moment when 
he was departing for Spain, to the effect of preserving his rights 
to the throne of France. The Dutch dreaded nothing so much 
as to see the French making encroachments on the Spanish 
Netherlands, which they regarded as their natural barrier a- 
gainst France ; the preservation of which appeared to be equally 
interesting to England. 

It would have been prudent in Louis XIV. to give these ma- 
ritime powers some security on this point, who, since the eleva- 
tion of William Prince of Orange to the crown of Great Britain, 
held as it were in their hands the balance of Europe. Without 
being swayed by this consideration, he obtained authority from 
the Council of Madrid, to introduce a French army into the Spa- 
nish Netherlands ; and on this occasion the Dutch troops, who 
were quartered in various places of the Netherlands, according 
;o a stipulation with the late King of Spain, were disarmed. This 
circumstance became a powerful motive for King William to 
rouse the States-General against France. He found some diffi- 
culty, however, in drawing over the British Parliament to his 
views, as a great majority in that House were averse to mingle 
in the quarrels of the Continent ; but the death of James II. all 



294 CHAPTER vin. 

tered the minds and inclinations of the English. Louis XIV. 
having formerly acknowledged the son of that prince as King of 
Great Britain, the English Parliament had no longer any hesi- 
tation in joining the Dutch, and the other enemies of France. 
A new and powerful league was formed against Louis. The 
Emperor, England, the United Provinces, the Empire, the 
Kings of Portugal and Prussia, and the Duke of Savoy, all 
joined it in succession. The allies engaged to restore to Aus- 
tria, the Spanish Netherlands, the dutchy of Milan, the king- 
dom of the Two Sicilies, with the ports of Tuscany ; and nevei 
to permit the union of France with Spain. 

At the commencement of the war, Louis for some time main- 
tained the glory and superiority of his arms, notwithstanding 
the vast number of adversaries he had to oppose. It was not 
until the campaign of 1704 that fortune abandoned him ; when 
one reverse was only succeeded by another. The Duke of 
Marlborough and Prince Eugene defeated Marshal de Tallard at 
Hochstett or Blenheim, (Aug. 13,) where he lost thirty thousand 
men, and was himself carried prisoner to England. This disas- 
ter was followed by the loss of Bavaria, and all the French pos- 
sessions beyond the Rhine. The battle which Marlborough 
gained (May 23, 1706) at Ramillies in Brabant was not less dis- 
astrous ; it secured to the allies the conquest of the greater 
part of the Netherlands ; and to increase these misfortunes, 
Marshal de Marsin lost the famous battle of Turin against 
Prince Eugene (Sept. 7,) which obliged the French troops to 
evacuate Italy. The battle which was fought at Oudenarde in 
Flanders (July 11, 1708) was not so decisive. Both sides 
fought with equal advantage ; but the duke of Burgundy, who 
was commander-in-chief of the French army, having quitted 
the field of battle during the night, contrary to the advice of 
Vendome, Marlborough made this an occasion for claiming the 
victory. 

At length the dreadful winter of 1709, and the battle of 
Malplaquet, which Marlborough gained over Villars (Sept. 11,) 
reduced France to the greatest distress, and brought Louis un- 
der the necessity of suing for peace, and even descending to 
the most humiliating conditions. M. de Torcy, his minister for 
foreign affairs, Avas despatched to the Hague ; and, amor.g a 
number of preliminary articles, he agreed to make restitution of 
all the conquests which the French had made since the peace of 
Munster. He consented to surrender the city of Strasburg, and 
henceforth to possess Alsace according to the literal terms of 
the treaty of Munster ; the throne of Spain was reserved for 
the archduke ; and Louis consented to abandon the interests of 



PERIOD VII. A. D. 164S— 1713. 295 

Philip. But the allies, rendered haughty by their success, de- 
inamled of the King that he should oblige his grandson volun- 
tarily to surrender his crown, otherwise they would compel him 
by force of arms, and that within the short space of two months. 
The conferences, which had been transferred from the Hague 
to Gertruydenberg, were consequently broken off, and the war 
continued. 

In this critical state of things, two unexpected events happened, 
which changed the face of affairs; and Louis XIV., far from 
being constrained to submit to the articles of the preliminaries 
at Gertruydenberg, saw himself even courted by England, and 
in a condition to dictate the law to several of the powers that 
were leagued against him. The Emperor Joseph I. died (April 
11th 1711) without leaving any male offspring. His brother the 
Archduke Charles, who took the title of King of Spain, now 
obtained the Imperial dignity, and became heir of all the States 
belonging to the German branch of the House of Austria. It 
appeared, therefore, that the system of equilibrium could not 
possibly admit the same prince to engross likewise the whole 
Spanish monarchy. This event was coupled with another, rela- 
tive to the change which had taken place in the ministry and 
Parliament of Great Britain. The Whigs, who had been the 
ruling party since the Revolution of 1689, were suddenly sup- 
planted by the Tories. This overthrow brought the Duke of 
Marlborough into disgrace, v/ho had long stood at the head of 
affairs in England, as chief of the Whig faction. Queen Anne, 
who stood in awe of him, found no other expedient for depriving 
him of his influence, than to make peace with France. L'Abbe 
Gualtier, who resided at London in quality of almoner to the 
ambassador of Charles of Austria, Avas despatched by her Ma- 
jesty to France, to make the first overtures of peace to Louis. A 
secret negotiation was set on foot between the two Courts, the 
result of which was a preliminary treaty signed at London 
(October 8th 1711.) 

A congress was opened at Utrecht, with the view of a general 
pacification. The conferences which took place there, after the 
month of February 1712, met with long interruptions; both on 
account of the disinclination of several of the allied powers for 
peace, and because of the matters to be separately treated be- 
tween France and England, which retarded the progress of the 
general negotiation. The battle of Denain, which Marshal Vil- 
lars gained over the Earl of Albemarle (July 24,) helped to ren- 
der the allies more tractable. Peace was signed at Utrecht m 
the month of April 1713, between France and the chief bellige- 
rent powers. The Emperor alone refused to take part in it, as 



296 CHAPTER vm. 

he could not resolve to abandon his claims to the Spanish 
monarchy. 

The grand aim of England in that transaction, was to limit 
the overwhelming power of France ; for this purpose she took 
care, in that treaty, to establish as a fundamental and inviolable 
law, the clause which ordained that the kingdoms of France and 
Spain never should be united. To effect this, it was necessary 
that Philip of Anjou should formally renounce his right to the 
crown of France ; while his brother the Duke de Berri, as well 
as the Duke of Orleans, should do the same in regard to the 
claims which they might advance to the Spanish monarchy. 
The deeds of these renunciations, drawn up and signed in 
France and in Spain, in presence of the English ambassadors, 
were inserted, in the treaty of Utrecht ; as were also the letters- 
patent which revoked and annulled those that Louis had given, 
for preserving the right of the Duke of Anjou to the succession 
of the French crown. Louis XIV. promised for himself, his 
heirs and successors, never to attempt either to prevent or elude 
the effect of these renunciations ; and failing the descendants 
of Philip, the Spanish succession was secured to the Duke 
of Savoy, his male descendants, and the other princes of his 
family, to the exclusion of the French princes. 

Another fundamental clause of the treaty of Utrecht declared, 
that no province, city, fortress or place, in the Spanish Nether- 
lands, should ever be ceded, transferred, or granted to the crown 
of France ; nor to any prince or princess of French extraction, 
under any title whatever. These provinces, designed to serve 
as a barrier for the Low Countries against France, were ad- 
judged to the Emperor and the House of Austria, together with 
the kingdom of Naples, the ports of Tuscany, and the dutchy of 
Milan ; and as the Emperor was not a party to the treaty, it was 
agreed that the Spanish Netherlands should remain as a deposit 
in the hands of the States-General, until that prince should ar' 
range with them respecting the barrier-towns. The same stipu- 
lation was made in regard to that part of the French Nether- 
lands which Louis had ceded in favour of the Emperor ; such 
as Menin, Tournay, Furnes, and Furnes-Ambacht, the fortress 
of Kenock, Ypres, and their dependencies. 

England, in particular, obtained by this treaty various and 
considerable advantages. Louis XI V. withdrew his protection 
from the Pretender, and engaged never to give him harbour in 
France. The succession to the throne of Great Britain, was 
guaranteed to the House of Hanover. They agreed to raze the 
Fortifications of the port of Dunkirk, which had so much excited 
'he jealousy of England ; while France likewise ceded to he) 



PERIOD VII. A. D. 1648—1713. 297 

Hudson's Bay, and Straits, the Island of St. Christopher, Nova 
Scotia, and Newfoundland in America. Spain gave up Gib- 
raltar and Minorca, both of which had been conquered by the 
English during the war; they secured to her, besides, for thirty 
years, the privilege of furnishing negroes for the Spanish Ameri- 
can colonies. 

The King of Prussia obtained the Spanish part of Gueldres, 
with the city of that name, an4 the district of Kessel, in lieu of 
the principality of Orange, which was given to France ; though 
he had claims to it as the heir of William III. King of England. 
The kingdom of Sicily was adjudged to the Duke of Savoy, to 
be possessed by him and his male descendants ; and they con- 
firmed to him the grants which the Emperor had made him, of 
that part of the dutchy of Milan which had belonged to the Duke 
of Mantua, as also Alexandria, Valencia, the Lumelline, and the 
Valley of Sessia. Finally, Sardinia was reserved for the Elec- 
tor of Bavaria, the ally of France in that war. 

As the Emperor had not acceded to the treaty of Utrecht, the 
war was continued between him and France. Marshal Villars 
took Landau and Friburg in Brisgaw ; afterwards a conference 
took place between him and Prince Eugene at Rastadt. New- 
preliminaries were there drawn up ; and a congress was opened 
at Baden in Switzerland, Avhere a definitive peace was signed 
(Sept. 7th 1714.) The former treaties, since the peace of West- 
phalia, were there renewed. The Electors of Cologne and Ba- 
varia, who had been put to the ban of the Empire, and deprived 
of their estates, were there fully re-established. Sardinia, which 
had been assigned to the Elector of Bavaria, by the treaty of 
Utrecht, remained in possession of the Emperor, who likewise 
recovered Brisach and Friburg in Brisgaw, instead of Landau 
which had been ceded to France. 

Louis XIV. did not long survive this latter treaty. Never 
did any sovereign patronize literature and the fine arts like him. 
Many celebrated academies for the promotion of the arts and 
sciences owe their origin to his auspices, such as the Academy 
of Inscriptions, Belles-Lettres, Sciences, Painting, and Archi- 
tecture. His reign was illustrious for eminent men, and talents 
of every description, which were honoured and encouraged by 
him. He even extended his favour to the philosophers and lit- 
erati of foreign countries. This prince has been reproached for 
his two great partiality to the Jesuits, his confessors, and for 
the high importance which he attached to the dispute between 
the Jansenists and the Molinists, which gave rise to the famous 
Bull Unigenitas, ^ approved by the clergy, and published by the 
King as a law of the state over all France. This illustrious 



298 CHAPTER vm. 

Prince ended his days after a reign of seventy-two years, fertile 
in great events ; he transmitted the crown to his great grand- 
son, Louis XV., who was only five years of age when he mount- 
ed the throne (Sept. 1, 1714.) 

In the course of this period, several memorable events hap- 
pened in Germany. The Emperor, Leopold L, having assem- 
bled a Diet at Katisbon, to demand subsidies against the Turks, 
and to settle certain matters which the preceding Diet had left 
undecided, the sittings of that assembly were continued to the 
present time, without ever having been declared permanent by 
any formal law of the Empire. The peace of Westphalia, had 
instituted an eighth Electorate for the Palatine branch of Wit- 
tlesbach ; the Emperor, Leopold L, erected a ninth, in favour of 
the younger branch of the House of Brunswick. The first Elec- 
tor of this family, known by the name of Brunswick-Luneburg, 
or Hanover, was the Duke Ernest Augustus, whom the Em- 
peror invested in his new dignity, to descend to his heirs-male, 
on account of his engaging to furnish Austria with supplies in 
money and troops, for carrying on the war against the Turks. 
This innovation met with decided opposition in the Empire. 
Several of the Electors were hostile to it ; and the whole body 
of Princes declared, that the new Electorate was prejudicial to 
their dignity, and tended to introduce an Electoral Oligarchy. 
The Duke of Brunswick- WolfTenbuttel especially protested 
against the preference which was given to the younger branch 
of his House over the elder, in spite of family compacts, and the 
right of primogeniture established in the House of Brunswick. 

A confederacy was thus formed against the ninth Electorate. 
The allied Princes resolved, in an assembly held at Nuremberg, 
to raise an army, and apply to the powers that had guaranteed 
the treaty of Westphalia. France espoused the quarrel of these 
Princes ; she concluded with the King of Denmark, a treaty of 
alliance and subsidy against the ninth Electorate, and declared, 
before the Diet of the Empire, that she regarded this innovation 
as a blow aimed at the treaty of Westphalia. In cour=e cf time, 
however, these animosities were allayed. The Princes recog- 
nised the ninth Electorate, and the introduction of the new 
Elector took place in 1708. A decree was passed at the Diett 
which annexed a clause to his admission, that the Catholic Elec- 
tors should have the privilege of a casting vote, in cases where 
the number of Protestant Electors should happen to equal that 
of the Catholics. By the same decree, the King of Bohemia, 
who had formerly never been admitted but at the election of the 
Emperors, obtained a voice in all the deliberations of the Empire 
and the Electoral College, on condition of his paying, in time 
commg. an Electoral quota for the kingdom of Bohemia. 



PKRioD vii. A. D. 1648—1713. 299 

The Imperial capitulations assumed a form entirely new, about 
the beginning of the eighteenth century. A difference had for- 
merly existed among the members of the Germanic body on this 
important article of public law. They regarded it as a thing 
illegal, that the Electors alone should claim the right of drawing 
up the capitulations ; and they maintained, with much reason, 
that before these compacts should have the force of a fundamen- 
tal law of the Empire, it was necessary that they should have 
the deliberation and consent of the whole Diet. The Princes, 
therefore, demanded, that there should be laid before the Diet a 
scheme of perpetual capitulation, to serve as a rule for the Elec- 
tors on every new election. That question had already been 
debated at the Congress of Westphalia, and sent back by it for 
the decision of the Diet. There it became the subject of long 
discussion ; and it was not till the interregnum, which followed 
the death of the Emperor Joseph I., that the principal points of 
the perpetual capitulation were finally settled. The plan then 
agreed to was adopted as the basis of the capitulation, which they 
prescribed to Charles VI. and his successors. Among other 
articles, a clause was inserted regarding the election of a king of 
the Romans. This, it was agreed, should never take place 
during the Emperor's life, except in a case of urgent necessity ; 
ind that th^ proscription of an elector, prince, or state of the 
Smpire, should never take place, without the consent of the 
Diet, and observing the formalities enjoined by the new capi- 
tulation. 

Three Electoral families of the Empire were raised to the 
royal dignity ; viz. those of Saxony, Brandenburg, and Bruns- 
wick-Luneburg. Augustus II., Elector of Saxony, after hav- 
ing made a profession of the Catholic religion, was elected to 
the throne of Poland ; a dignity which was afterwards conferred, 
also by election, on his son Augustus III. That change of re- 
ligion did not prevent the Electors of Saxony from remaining 
at the head of the Protestant interest in the Diet of the Em- 
pire, as they had given them assurance that they would make 
no innovations in the religion of their country, and that they 
would appoint a council entirely composed of Protestant mem- 
bers, for administering the affairs of the Empire. These prin- 
ces, however, lost part of their influence ; and so far was the 
crown of Poland, which v/as purely elective, from augmenting 
the greatness and real power of their house, that, on the con- 
trary, it served to exhaust and enfeeble Saxony, by involving it 
in ruinous wars, which ended in the desolation of that fine 
country, the alienation of the Electoral domains, and the increase 
■if the debts and burdens of the state. 



300 CHAPTER Vlll. 

If the royal dignity of Poland was prejudicial to the House 
of Saxony, it was by no means so with that of Prussia, which 
the House of Brandenburg acquired soon after. The Elector, 
John Sigismund, on succeeding to the dutchy of Prussia, had 
acknowledged himself a vassal and tributary of the crown of 
Poland. His grandson, Frederic William, took advantage of 
the turbulent situation in which Poland was placed at the time 
of the invasion of Charles X. of Sweden, to obtain a grant of 
the sovereignty of Prussia, by a treaty which he concluded with 
that Republic at Welau (19th September 1657.) Poland, in re- 
nouncing the territorial rights which she exercised over Ducal 
Prussia, stipulated for the reversion of these same rights, on the 
extinction of the male line of the Electoral House of Brandenburg. 

Frederic I., the son and successor of Frederic William, having 
become sovereign of Ducal Prussia, thought himself authorized 
to assume the royal dignity. The elevation of his cousin-ger- 
man, the Prince of Orange, to the throne of Britain, and of his 
next neighbour, the Elector of Saxony, to the sovereignty ol 
Poland, tempted his ambition, and induced him to enter into a 
negotiation on the subject with the Court of Vienna. The Em- 
peror Leopold promised to acknowledge him as King of Prussia, 
on account of a supply of ten thousand men v/hich Frederic pro- 
mised to furnish him in the war of the Spanish Succession, 
which was then commencing. To remove all apprehensions on 
the part of Poland, who might perhaps offer some opposition, 
the Elector signed a compact, bearing, that the royal dignity of 
Prussia should in no way prejudice the rights and possession of 
the King and States of Poland over Polish Prussia ; that neither 
he nor his successors should attempt to found claims on that part 
of Prussia ; and that the clause in the treaty of Welau, which 
secured the reversion of the territorial right of Ducal Prussia, 
on the extinction of the heirs-male of Frederic William, should 
remain in full force and vigour, never to be infringed by the new 
King or any of his successors. After these different conventions, 
the Elector repaired to Koningsberg, where he was proclaimed 
King of Prussia (18th January 1701.) It is worthy of remark, 
that on the ceremony of his coronation, he put the crown on his 
own head. 

All the European powers acknowledged the new King, with 
the exception of France and Spain, with whom he soon engaged 
in war. The Teutonic Knights, bearing in mind their ancient 
claims over Prussia, deemed it their duty to support them by a 
protest, and their example was followed by the Court of Rome. 
The opinion which the author of the Memoirs of Brandenburg 
delivers on this event is very remarkable. " Frederic," says he 



PERIOD vn. A. D. 1648—1713. 301 

" was flattered with nothing so much, as the externals of royalty, 
the pomp of ostentation, and a certain whimsical self-conceit, 
which was pleased with making others feel their inferiority. 
What at first was the mere offspring of vanity, turned out in the 
end to be a masterpiece of policy. The royal dignity liberated 
the House of Brandenburg from that yoke of servitude under 
which Austria had, till then, held all the Princes of Germany 
It was a kind of bait which Frederic held out to all his posterity, 
and by which he seemed to say, I have acquired for you a title, 
render yourselves worthy of it ; I have laid the foundation of 
your greatness, yours is the task of completing the structure." 
In fact Austria, by promoting the House of Brandenburg, seemed 
to have injured her own greatness. In the very bosom of the 
Empire, she raised up a new power, which afterwards became 
her rival, and seized every opportunity of aggrandizement at her 
expense. 

As for the Electoral House of Brunswick-Luneburg, it suc- 
ceeded, as we have observed, to the throne of Great Britain, in 
virtue of a fundamental law of that monarchy, which admitted 
females to the succession of the crown. Ernest Augustus, the 
first Elector of the Hanoverian line, had married Sophia, 
daughter of the Elector Palatine Frederic V., by the Princess 
Elizabeth of England, daughter of James I., King of Great 
Britain. An act of the British Parliament in 1701, extended 
the succession to that Princess, then Electress-Dowager of Han- 
over, and to her descendants, as being nearest heirs to the throne, 
according to the order established by former acts of Parliament, 
limiting the succession to Princes and Princesses of the Protes- 
tant line only. The Electress Sophia, by that act, was called to 
the succession, in case William III., and Anne, the youngest 
daughter of James II., left no issue ; an event which took place 
in 1714, on the death of Anne, who had succeeded William in 
the kingdom of Great Britain. The Electress Sophia was not 
alive at that time, having died two months before that princess. 
George, Elector of Hanover, and son of Sophia by Ernest Au- 
gustus, then ascended the British throne (Aug. 12, 1714,) to the 
exclusion of all the other descendants of Elizabeth, who, though 
they had the right of precedence, were excluded by being Catho- 
lics, in virtue of the Acts of Parliament 16S9, 1701, 1705. 

The war of the Spanish Succession had occasioned great 
changes in Italy. Spain, after having been long the leading 
power in that country, gave place to Austria, to whojn the trea- 
ties of Utrecht and Baden had adjudged the dutchy of Milan, 
the kingdoms of Naples and Sardinia, and the ports of Tuscany. 
To these she added the dutchy of Mantua., of which the Empe- 



302 CHAPTER VUI. 

for Joseph I. had dispossessed Duke Charles IV. of the House 
of Gonzaga, for having espoused the cause of France in the 
War of the Succession. The Duke of Mirandola met with a 
similar fate, as the ally of the French in that war. His dutchy 
was confiscated by the Emperor, and sold to the Duke of Modena. 
This new aggrandizement of Austria in Italy excited the jea- 
lousy of England, lest the princes of that house should take oc- 
casion to revive their obsolete claims to the royalty of Italy and 
the Imperial dignity ; and it was this which induced the Court 
of London to favour the elevation of the Dukes of Savoy, in 
order to counterbalance the power of Austria in Italy. 

The origin of the House of Savoy is as old as the beginning 
of the eleventh century, when we find a person named Berthold 
in possession of Savoy, at that time a province of the kingdom 
of Burgundy or Aries. The grandson of Berthold married 
Adelaide de Suza, daughter and heiress of Mainfroi, Marquis 
of Italy and Lord of Suza. This marriage brought the House 
of Savoy considerable possessions in Italy, such as the Marqui- 
sate of Suza, the Dutchy of Turin, Piedmont, and Val d'Aoste 
Humbert II. Count of Savoy, conquered the province of Taren- 
tum. Thomas, one of his successors, acquired by marriage the 
barony of Faucigny. Amadeus V. was invested by the Empe- 
ror Henry VII. in the city and county o^" Asti. Amadeus "VII. 
received the voluntary submission of the inhabitants of Nice, 
which he had dismembered from Provence, together with the 
counties of Tenda and Boglio ; having taken advantage of the 
intestine dissensions in that country, and the conflict between 
the factions of Duras and Anjou, who disputed the succession 
of Naples and the county of Provence. Amadeus VIII. pur- 
chased from Otho de Villars the county of Geneva, and was 
created, by the Emperor Sigismund, first Duke of Savoy (Feb. 
19, 1416.) 

The rivalry which had subsisted between France and Austria 
since the end of the fifteenth century, placed the House of Savoy 
in a situation extremely difficult. Involved in the wars which 
had arisen between these two powers in Italy, it became of ne- 
cessity more than once the victim of political circumstances. 
Duke Charles III. having allied himself with Charles V., was 
deprived of his estates by France ; and his son Philibert, noted 
for his exploits in the campaigns of Flanders, did not obtain re- 
stitution of them until the peace of Chateau Cambresis. The 
Dukes Charles Emanuel II., and Victor Amadeus II., experi- 
enced similar indignities, in the wars which agitated France 
and Spain during the seventeeth century, and which were ter- 
uunated by the treaties of the Pyrenees and Turin in the years 



PERIOD vn. A. D. 1648—1713. 303 

1659, 1696, In the war of the Spanish Succession, Victor 
Amadeus II. declared at first for his son-in-law, Philip King of 
Spain, even taking upon himself the chief command of the 
French army in Italy ; but afterwards, perceiving the danger of 
his situation, and seduced by the advantageous offers which the 
Emperor made him, he thought proper to alter his plan, and 
joined the grand alliance against France. Savoy and Piedmont 
again became the theatre of the war between France and Italy. 
The French having undertaken the siege of Turin, the Duke 
and Prince Eugene forced their army in its entrenchments be- 
fore the place, and obliged them to abandon Italy. The Empe- 
ror granted the Duke the investiture of the different estates 
which he had secured to him, on his accession to the grand 
alliance ; such as Montferrat, the provinces of Alexandria and 
Valencia, the country between the Tanaro and the Po, the Lu- 
melline, Val Sessia, and the Vigevanesco ; to be possessed by 
him and his male descendants, as fiefs holding of the Emperor 
and the Empire. 

The peace of Utrecht confirmed these possessions to the Duke ; 
and England, the better to secure the equilibrium of Italy and 
Europe, granted him, by that treaty, the royal dignity, with the 
island of Sicily, which she had taken from Spain. That island 
was ceded to him under the express clause, that, on the extinc- 
tion of the male line of Savoy, that kingdom should revert to 
Spain. By the same treaty they secured to the male descen- 
dants of that house, the right of succession to the Spanish mon- 
archy; and that clause was confirmed by a solemn law passed 
in the Cortes of Spain, and by subsequent treaties concluded be- 
tween these powers and Europe. The duke was crowned King 
of Sicily at Palermo (Dec. 21, 1713,) by the archbishop of thai 
city ; and the only persons who refused to acknowledge him in 
that new capacity were the Emperor and the Pope. 

In proportion as France increased, Spain had declined m 
power, in consequence of the vices of her government, the fee- 
bleness of her princes, and the want of qualifications in their 
ministers and favourites. At length, under the reign of Charles 
II., the weakness of that monarchy was such, that France de- 
spoiled her with impunity, as appears by those cessions she was 
obliged to make by the treaties of Aix-la-Chapelle, Nimeguen, 
and Ryswick. Charles II. was the last prince of the Spanish 
line of the house of Austria. At his death (Nov. 1700,) a long 
and bloody war ensued about the succession, as we have already 
related. Two competitors appeared for the crown. Philip of 
Anjou, grandson of Louis XIV., had on his side the will of 
Charles II., the efforts of his grandfather, and the wishes of the 



304 CHAPTER vin. 

Spanish nation. Charles of Austria, younger son of the Empe- 
ror Leopold I., was supported by a formidable league, which 
political considerations and a jealousy of the other powers had 
raised against France. 

Philip, who had been placed on the throne by the Spaniards, 
had already resided at Madrid for several years, when the Aus- 
trian prince, his rival, assisted by the allied fleet, took possession 
of Barcelona (Oct. 9, 1705,) where he established his capital. 
The incessant defeats which France experienced at this period, 
obliged Philip twice to abandon his capital, and seek his safetj- 
in flight. He owed his restoration for the first time to Marsha' 
Berwick, and the victory which that general gained over the 
allies near Almanza, in New Castille (April 25, 1707.) The 
^"'chduke having afterwards advanced as far as Madrid, the 
Uuke de Vendome undertook to repulse him. That General, 
i in conjunction with Philip V., defeated the allies, who were 
commanded by General Stahremberg, near Villa Viciosa (Dec. 
10, 1710.) These two victories contributed to establish Philip 
on his throne. The death of Joseph I., which happened soon 
after, and the elevation of his brother, the Archduke Charles, to 
the Imperial throne and the crowns of Hungary and Bohemia, 
accelerated the conclusion of the peace of Utrecht, by which the 
Spanish monarchy was preserved to Philip V. and his descen- 
dants. They deprived him, however, in virtue of that treaty, ot 
the Netherlands and the Spanish possessions in Italy, such as 
the Milanois, the ports of Tuscany, and the kingdoms of Naples, 
Sicily, and Sardinia. 

The conditions which England had exacted at the treaty ot 
Utrecht, to render effectual the renunciation of Philip V. to the 
crown of France, as well as that of the French princes to the 
monarchy of Spain, having made h necessary to assemble the 
Cortes or States-General, Philip took advantage of that circum- 
stance to change the order of succession which till then had sub- 
sisted in Spain, and which was known by the name of the Cos- 
tilian Succession. A law was passed at the Cortes (1713,) by 
which it was ordained that females should never be admitted to 
the crown, except in default of the male line of Philip ; that the 
male heirs should succeed according to the order of primogeni- 
ture ; that, failing the male line of that prince, the crown shoula 
fall to the eldest daughter of the last reigning king, and her de- 
scendants ; and, failing these, to the sister or nearest relation ol 
the last king ; always keeping in force the right of primogeniture, 
and the preference of the male heirs in the order of succession. 

France, by the sixtieth article of the treaty of the Pyrenees, 
having renounced the protection of Portugal, the war between 




Death of Charles the XII. of Sweden. P. 319. 




Encampment of a Regiment of Imperial Body-Guards. 

P. 330. 



PERIOD VII. A. D. 1648—1713. 305 

Spain and this latter power was resumed with new vigour. 
Alphonso VL, King of Portugal, finding himself abandoned by 
his allies, resolved to throw himself on the favour of England. 
The English granted him supplies, in virtue of a treaty which 
he concluded with them (June 23d 1661,) and by which he 
ceded to them the city of Tangiers in Africa, and the isle of 
Bombay in India. France, who well knew that it was her inte- 
rest not to abandon Portugal entirely, rendered her likewise all 
the ?ecret assistance in her power. The Count Schomberg 
passed over to that kingdom with a good number of officers, and 
several companies of French troops. The Portuguese, under 
the command of that General, gained two victories over the 
Spaniards at Almexial, near Estremos (1663,) and at Montes 
Claros, or Villa Viciosa (1665,) which re-established their affairs, 
and contributed to secure the independence of Portugal, Wlien 
the war took place about the Right of Devolution, the Coui t of 
Lisbon formed a new alliance with France. Spain then leained 
that it would be more for her interest to abandon her projects of 
conquering Portugal, and accept the proposals of accommodation 
tendered to her by the mediation of England. 

It happened, in the meantime, that Alphonso VI., a prince of 
vicious habits, and of a ferocious and brutal temper, was de- 
throned (Nov. 23d 1667,) and the Infant Don Pedro, his brother, 
was declared Regent of the kingdom. The Queen of Alphonso, 
Mary of Savoy, who had managed the whole intrigue, obtained, 
from the Court of Rome, a dissolution of her marriage with Al- 
phonso, and espoused the Regent, her brother-in-law (April 2d 
1668.) That prince would willingly have fulfilled the engage- 
ments which his predecessor had contracted with France, but 
the English Ambassador having drawn over the Cortes of Por 
tugal to his interests, the Regent was obliged to make peace with 
Spain, which was signed at Lisbon, February 13th 1668. The 
Spaniards there treated with the Portuguese as a sovereign and 
independent nation. They agreed to make mutual restitution 
of all they had taken possession of during the war, with the 
exception of the city of Ceuta in Africa, which remained in the 
power of Spain. The subjects of both states obtained the resto- 
ration of all property alienated or confiscated during the war. 
That peace was followed by another, which Portugal concluded 
at the Hague, with the United Provinces of the Netherlands 
(July 31st 1669,) who were permitted to retain the conquests 
they had made from the Portuguese in the East Indies. 

The Court of Lisbon was soon after involved in the war of 
the Spanish Succession which divided all Europe. Don Pedro 
II. had at first acknowledged Philip V., and even contracted an 

20 



306 CHAPTER vin. 

alliance with him ; but yielding afterwards to the influence of 
the British minister, as well as of the Court of Vienna, he joined 
the Grand Alliance against France.^ The Portuguese made a 
distinguished figure in that war, chiefly during the campaign of 
1706, when, with the assistance of the English, they penetrated 
as far as Madrid, and there proclaimed Charles of Austria. 

The Portuguese, by one of the articles of their treaty of 
accession to the grand alliance, had been given to expect, that 
certam important places in Spanish Estremadura and Gallicia 
would be ceded to them at the general peace. That engage- 
ment was never fulfilled. The treaty of peace, concluded at 
Utrecht (6th February 1715,) between Spain and Portugal, had 
ordered the mutual restitution of all conquests made during the 
war. The treaty of Lisbon, of 1668, was then renewed, and 
especially the articles which stipulated for the restitution of all 
confiscated property. The only point which they yielded to the 
Portuguese, was that which referred to the colony of St. Sacra- 
ment, which the Portuguese governor of Rio Janeiro had estab- 
lished (1680) on the northern bank of the river La Plata, in South 
America, which was opposed by Spain. By the sixth article of 
her treaty with Portugal, she renounced all her former claims 
and pretensions over the above colony. 

A similar dispute had arisen between France and PortugaL 
relative to the northern bank of the Amazons river, and the terri- 
tories about Cape North, in America, which the French main- 
tained belonged to them, as making part of French Guiana. 
The Portuguese naving constructed there the fort of Macapa, it 
was taken by the French govp"".'! of Cayenne. By the treaty 
of Utrecht, it was agreed between France and Portugal that 
both banks of the river Amazons should belong entirely to Por- 
tugal; and that France should renounce all right and preten- 
sions whatever to the territories of Cape North, lying between 
the rivers Amazons and Japoc, or Vincent Pinson, in South 
America. 

In England, an interregnum of eleven years followed the death 
of Charles I. Oliver Cromwell, the leader of the Independent 
party, pissed two Acts of Parliament, one of which abolished 
the House of Lords, and the other the royal dignity. The 
kingly office was suppressed, as useless to the nation, oppressive 
and dangerous to the interests and liberties of the people ; and it 
'was decided, that whoever should speak of the restoration of the 
Stuarts, should be regarded as a traitor to his country. The king- 
dom being thus changed into a republic, Cromwell took on him? elf 
the chief direction of affairs. This ambitious man was not long 
in monopolizing the sovereign authority (1653.) He abolished 



PERIOD vu. A. D. 1648—1713. 307 

the Parliament called the Rump, which had conferred on him hif? 
power and military commission. He next assembled a new 
Parliament of the three kingdoms, to the number of one hun- 
dred and forty-four members ; and he took care to have it com- 
posed of individuals whom he knew to be devoted to his inte- 
rests. Accordingly, they resigned the whole authority into his 
hands. An act, called the Act of Government, conferred on 
him the supreme authority, under the title of Protector of 
the three kingdoms ; with the privilege of making war and 
peace, and assembling every three years a Parliament, which 
should exercise the legislative power conjunctly with himself. 

CromAvell governed England with a more uncontrolled power 
than that of her kings had been. In 1651, he passed the fa- 
mous Navigation Act, which contributed to increase the com- 
merce of Great Britain, and gave her marine a preponderance 
over that of all other nations. That extraordinary man raised 
England in the estimation of foreigners, and made his Protec- 
torate respected by all Europe. After a war which he had car- 
ried on against the Dutch, he obliged them, by the treaty of 
Westminster (1654,) to lower their flag to British vessels, and 
to abandon the cause of the Stuarts. Entering into alliance 
with France against Spain, he took from the latter the island 
of Jamaica (1655) and the port of Dunkirk (1658.) 

After his death, the Generals of the army combined to restore 
the old Parliament, called the Rump. Richard Cromwell, who 
succeeded his father, soon resigned the Protectorate (April 22, 
1659.) Dissensions having arisen between the Parliament and 
the Generals, Monk, who was governor of Scotland, marched i 
to the assistance of the Parliament ; and after having defeated I 
the Independent Generals, he proceeded to assemble a new Par- 
liament composed of both Houses. No sooner was this Par- 
liament assembled, than they decided for the restoration of the 
Stuarts, in the person of Charles II. (18th May 1660.) 

That Prince made his public entry into London, May 29, 
1660. His first care was to take vengeance on those who had 
been chiefly instrumental in the death of his father. He re- 
scinded all Acts of Parliament passed since the year 1633; and 
re-established Episcopacy both in England and Scotland. In- 
stigated by his propensity for absolute power, and following the 
maxims Avhich he had imbibed from his predecessors, he adopt- 
ed measures which were opposed by the Parliament ; and even 
went so far as more than once to pronounce their dissolution. | 
His reign, in consequence, was a scene of faction and agitation, 
which proved the forerunners of a new revolution.'' The ap- 
pellation of Whigs and Tories, so famous in English history 



I ! 



308 CHAPTER vm. 

took its rise in his reign. We could almost, however, pardon 
Charles for his faults and irregularities, in consideration of the 
benevolence and amiableness of his character. But it was 
otherwise with James 11. , who succeeded his brother on the 
British throne (16th Feb. 1685.) That Prince alienated the 
minds of his subjects by his haughty demeanour, and his extra- 
vagant zeal for the church of Rome, and the Jesuits his confes- 
sors. Scarcely was he raised to the throne, when he undertook 
to change the religion of his country, and to govern still more 
despotically than his brother had done. Encouraged by Louis 
XIV., who offered him money and troops, he was the first King 
of England that had kept on foot an army in time of peace, 
and caused the legislature to decide, that the King can dispense 
with the laws. Availing himself of this decision, he dispensed 
with the several statutes issued against the Catholics ; he per- 
mitted them the public exercise of their religion within the 
three kingdoms, and gradually gave them a preference in all 
places of trust. At length, he even solicited the Pope to send 
a nuncio to reside at his Court ; and on the arrival of Ferdi- 
nand Dada, to whom Innocent XL had confided this mission, 
he gave him a public and solemn entry to Windsor (1687.) 
Seven bishops, who had refused to publish the declaration re- 
specting Catholics, were treated as guilty of sedition, and im 
prisoned by his order in the Tower. 

During these transactions, the Queen, Mary of Modena, hap- 
pened to be delivered of a Prince (20th June, 1688,) known in 
history by the name of the Pretender, As her Majesty had 
had no children for more than six years, it was not difficult to 
gain credit to a report, that the young Prince was a suppositi- 
tious child. James II., by his first marriage with Anne Hyde, 
daughter of the Earl of Clarendon, had two daughters, both Pro- 
testants ; and regarded, till then, as heirs to the crown. Mary, 
the eldest, was married to William, Prince of Orange, and Anne, 
the youngest, to George, younger son of Frederic III., King 
of Denmark. The English Protestants had flattered themselves 
that all their wrongs and misfortunes would terminate with the 
death of James II. and the accession of the Princess of Orange 
to the throne. Being disappointed in these expectations by the 
birth of the Prince of Wales, their only plan was to dethrone 
the King. The Tories even joined with the Whigs in offering 
t'he crown to the Prince of Orange. William III., supported by 
the Dutch fleet, made a descent on England, and landed fifteen 
thousand men at Torbay (Sth November, 1688,) Avithout ex- 
periencing the smallest resistance on the part of James, who, 
seeing himself abandoned by the military, took the resolution 



PERIOD VII. A. D. 1648—1713. 309 

of withdrawing to France, where he had already sent his Queen 
and his son, the young Prince of Wales. He afterwards re- 
turned to Irelajid, where he had a strong party ; but being con- 
quered by William at the battle of the Boyne (11th July 1690,) 
he was obliged to return to France, where he ended his days. 

Immediately after the flight of James, the Parliament of Eng- 
land declared, by an act, that as he had violated the funda- 
mental law of the constitution, and abandoned the kingdom, the 
throne was become vacant. They, therefore, unanimously con- 
ferred the crown on William III., Prince of Orange, and Mary 
his spouse (Feb. 22, 16S9 ;) intrusting the administration of af- 
fairs to the Prince alone. In redressing the grievances of the 
nation, they set new limits to the royal authority. By an Act, 
called the Declaration of Rights, they decreed, that the King 
could neither suspend, nor dispense with the laws ; that he 
could institute no new courts, nor levy money under any pre- 
tence whatever, nor maintain an army in time of peace, without 
the consent of Parliament. Episcopacy was abolished in Scot- 
land (1694,) and the liberty of the press sanctioned. The suc- 
cession of the crown was regulated by different Acts of Parlia- 
ment, one of which fixed it in the Protestant line, to the exclu- 
sion of Catholics. Next after William and Mary and their 
descendants, was the Princess Anne and her descendants. A 
subsequent Act conferred the succession on the House of 
Hanover (1701,) under the following conditions: — That the 
King or Queen of that family, on their accession to the throne, 
should be obliged to conform to the High Church, and the laws 
of 16S9 ; that without the consent of Parliament, they should 
never engage the nation in any war for the defence of their he- 
reditary dominions, nor go out of the kingdom ; and that they 
should never appoint foreigners to offices of trust. 

The rivalry between France and England assumed a higher 
tone under the reign of William III. ; and was increased by the 
powerful efforts which France was making to improve her ma- 
rine, and extend her navigation and her commerce. The colo- 
nies which she founded in America and the Indies, by bringing 
the two nations more into contact, tended to foment their jea- 
lousies, and multiply subjects of discord and division between 
them. From that time England eagerly seized every occasion 
for occupying France on the Continent of Europe ; and the 
whole policy of William, as we have seen, had no other aim 
than to thwart the ambitious views of Louis XIV. If this 
rivalry excited and prolonged wars which inflicted many cala- 
mities on the world, it became likewise a powerful stimulus for 
the contending nations to develope their whole faculties ; to 



310 CHAPTER vm. 

make the highest attainments in the sciences, or which they were 
susceptible ; and to carry arts and civilization to the remotest 
countries in the world. 

William III. was succeeded by Anne (1702.) It was in net 
reign that the grand union between England and Scotland was 
accomplished, which incorporated them into one kingdom, by 
means of the same order of succession, and only one Parliament. 
That Princess had the honour of maintaining the balance oi 
Europe against France, by the clauses which she got inserted 
into the treaty of Utrecht. At her death (1st August 1714,) 
the throne of Great Britain passed to George I., the Elector of 
Hanover, whose mother, Sophia, derived her right to the British 
throne from James I., her maternal grandfather. 

The power and political influence of the United Provinces of 
the Netherlands had increased every day, since Spain acknow- 
ledged their independence by the treaty of Munster (1648.) 
Their extensive commerce to all parts of the globe, and their 
flourishing marine, attracted the admiration of all Europe. 
Sovereigns courted their alliance ; and the Hague, the capital 
of the Stales-General, became, in course of time, the centre of 
European politics. That Republic was the rival of England in 
all her commercial relations ; and she ventured also to dispute 
with her the empire of the sea, by refusing to lower her flag to 
j I British vessels. These disputes gave rise to bloody wars be- 
1 1 tween the two States, in which the famous Dutch Admirals, 
j : Tromp and De Ruyter, distinguished themselves by their mari- 
I time exploits. De Ruyter entered the Thames with the Dutch 
j : fleet (1667,) advanced to Chatham, burnt the vessels in the roads 
i there, and threw the city of London into great consternation. 
j Nevertheless, by the treaties of Breda (1667) and Westminster 
j; (1654,) they agreed that their vessels and fleets should lower 
j I their flag when they met either one or more ships carrying the 
j j British flag, and that over all the sea, from Cape Finisterre in 
j j Gallicia, to the centre of Statt in Norway ; but the Stales-Gen- 
j 1 eral preserved Surinam, which they had conquered during the 

I j war ; and at the treaty of commerce which was signed at Breda, 

the navigation act was modified in their favour, in. so far that 
the produce and merchandise of Germany were to be considered 
, as productions of the soil of the Republic. 
j . It was during these wars that a change took place with regard 

I I to the Stadtholdership of the United Provinces. William II,, 
j j Prince of Orange, had alienated the hearts of his subjects by his 
I , attempts against their liberties ; and having, at his death, left 
i i his wife, the daughter of Charles I. of England, pregnant of a 

son (1650,) the States-General took the opportunity of leaving 



i-ERioDvn. A. D. 164S— 17J3. 311 

that ofPce vacant, and taking upon themselves the direction of 
affairs. The suspicions which the House of Orange had excited 
in Cromwell by their alliance with the Stuarts, and the resent- 
ment of John de Witt, Pensionary of Holland, against the Stadt- 
holder, caused a secret article to be added to the treaty of West- 
minster, by which the States of Holland and West Friesland 
engaged never to elect William, the posthumous son of William 
II., to be Stadtholder ; and never to allow that the office of 
Captain-General of the Republic should be conferred on him. 
John de Witt likewise framed a regulation kno^vn by the name 
of the Perpetual Edict, which separated the Stadtholdership 
from the office of Captain and Admiral-General, and which 
enacted, that these functions should never be discharged by the 
same individual. Having failed, however, in his efforts to make 
the States-General adopt this regulation, which they considered 
as contrary to the union, John de Witt contented himself with 
obtaining the approbation of the States of Holland, who even 
went so far as to sanction the entire suppression of the Stadt- 
holdership. 

Matters continued in this situation until the time when Louis 
XIV. invaded Holland. His alarming progress caused a revo- 
lution in favour of the Prince of Orange. The ruling faction, at 
the head of which was John de Witt, then lost the good opinion 
of the people. He was accused of having neglected military 
affairs, and left the State without defence, and a prey to the en- 
emy. The first signal of '•evolution was given by the small 
town of Veere in Zealand. William was there proclaimed 
Stadtholder (June 1672,) and the example of Veere was soon 
followed by all the cities of Holland and Zealand. Every where 
the people compelled the magistrates to confer the Stadtholder- 
ship on the young Prince. The Perpetual Edict was abolished, 
and the Stadtholdership confirmed to William III. by the As- 
sembly of States. They even rendered thih dignity, as well as 
the office of Captain-General, hereditary to all the male and 
legitimate descendants of the Prince. It was on this occasion 
that the two brothers, John and Cornelius de Witt, were massa- 
cred by the people assembled at the Hague. 

After William was raised to the throne of Great Britain, he 
still retained the Stadtholdership, with the offices of Captain 
and Admiral-General of the Republic. England and Holland, 
united under the jurisdiction of the same prince, acted thence- 
forth in concert to ihwart the ambitious designs of Louis XIV. ; 
and he felt the effects of their power chiefly in the war of the 
Spanish Succession, when England and the States-General made 
extraordinary efforts to maintain the balance of th^ Continent 



312 CHAPTER VTII. 

which they thought in danger. It was in consideration of these 
efforts that they guaranteed to the Dutch, by the treity of the 
Grand Alliance, as Avell as by that of Utrecht, a barrier against 
France, which was more amply defined by the Barrier Treaty, 
signed at Antwerp (15th November 1715,) under the mediation 
and guaranty of Great Britain. The provinces and towns of 
the Netherlands, both those that had been possessed by Charles 
II., and those that France had surrendered by the treaty of 
Utrecht, were transferred to the Emperor and the House of 
Austria, on condition that they should never be ceded under any 
title whatever ; neither to France, nor to any other prince except 
the heirs and successors of the House of Austria in Germany. 
It was agreed that there should always be kept in the Low 
Countries a body of Austrian troops, from thirty to thirty-five 
thousand men, of which the Emperor was to furnish three-fifths, 
and the States-General the remainder. Finally, the States- 
General were allowed a garrison, entirely composed of their own 
troops, in the cities and castles of Namur, Tournay, Menin, 
Fumes, Warneton, and the fortress of Kenock ; while the Em- 
peror engaged to contribute a certain sum annually for the main- 
tenance of these troops. 

Switzerland, since the confirmation of her liberty and inde- 
pendence by the peace of Westphalia, had constantly adhered 
to the system of neutrality which she had adopted ; and taken 
no part in the broils of her neighbours, except by furnishing 
troops to those powers with whom she was in alliance. The 
fortunate inability which was the natural consequence of her 
union, pointed out this line of conduct, and even induced the 
European States to respect the Helvetic neutrality. 

This profound peace, which Switzerland enjoyed by means of 
that neutrality, was never interrupted, except by occasional do- 
mestic quarrels, which arose from the difference of their religious 
opinions. Certain families, from the canton of Schweitz, had 
fled to Zurich on account of their religious tenets, and had been 
protected by that republic. This stirred up a war (1656) be- 
tween the Catholic cantons and the Zurichers, with their allies 
the Bernese ; but it was soon terminated by the peace of Baden, 
which renewed the clauses of the treaty of 1531, relative to these 
very subjects of dispute. Some attempts having afterwards been 
made against liberty of conscience, in the county of Toggenburg, 
by the Abbe of St, Gall, a new war broke out (1712,) between 
five of the Catholic cantons, and the two Protestant cantons of 
Zurich and Berne. These latter expelled the Abbe of St. Gall 
from his estates, and dispossessed the Catholics of the county of 
Baden, with a considerable part of the free bailiwicks which 



PERIOD VII. A. D. 1648 — 1713. 



313 



1 



Ti'cre granted to them by the treaty concluded at Araw. The 
Abbe then saw himself abandoned by the Catholic cantons; and 
it was only in virtue of a treaty, which he concluded with Zu- 
rich and Berne (1718,) that his successor obtained his restoration 

Sweden, during the greater part of this period, supported the 
first rank among the powers of the North. The vigour of her 
government, added to the weakness of her neighbours, and the 
important advantages which the treaties of Slolbova, Stumsdori, 
Bromsbro, and Westphalia had procured her, secured this supe- 
riority ; and gave her the same influence in the North that 
France held in the South. Christina, the daughter of Gustavus 
Adolpiius, held the reins of government in Sweden about the 
middle of the seventeenth century ; but to gratify her propensity 
for the fine arts, she resolved to abdicate the crown (1654.) 
Charles Gustavus, Count Palatine of Deux-Ponts, her cousin- 
german, succeeded her, under the title of Charles X. Being 
nurtured in the midst of arms, and ambitious only of wars and 
battles, he was anxious to distinguish himself on the throne. 
John Casimir, King of Poland, having provoked him, by protest- 
ing against his accession to the crown of Sweden, Charles made 
this an occasion of breaking the treaty of Stumsdorf, which was 
still in force, and invaded Poland. Assisted by Frederic Wil- 
liam, the Elector of Brandenburg, whom he had attached to his 
interests, he gained a splendid victory over the Poles near War- 
saw (July 1656.) At that crisis, the fate of Poland would have 
been decided, if the Czar, Alexis Michaelovitz, who was also at 
war with the Poles, had chosen to make common cause with 
her new enemies ; but Alexis thought it more for his advantage 
to conclude a truce with the Poles, and attack the Swedes in Li- 
vonia, Ingria, and Carelia. The Emperor Leopold and the King 
C'f Denmark followed the example of the Czar; and the Elector 
of Brandenburg, after obtaining the sovereignty of the dutchy of 
Prussia, by the treaty which he concluded with Poland at We- 
lau, acceded in like manner to this league, — the object of which 
was to secure the preservation of Poland, and maintain the equi- 
librium of the North. 

Attacked by so many and such powerful enemies, the King 
of Sweden determined to withdraw his troops from Poland, and 
direct his principal force against Denmark. Having made him- 
self master of Holstein, Sleswick, and Jutland, he passed the 
Belts on the ice (January 1658) with his army and artillery, and 
advanced towards the capital of the kingdom. This bold step 
intimidated the Danes so much, that they submitted to those ex- 
ceedingly severe conditions which Charles made them sign at 
Roschild (February 1658.) Scarcely was this treaty concluded. 



314 CHAPTEK vni. 

when the King of Sweden broke it anew; and under difToen^ 
pretexts, laid siege to Copenhagen. His intention was, if he had 
carried that place, to raze it to the ground, to annihilate the 
kingdom of Denmark, and fix his residence in the province of 
Schonen, where he could maintain his dom.inion over the North 
and the Baltic. The besieged Danes, however, made a vigor- 
ous defence, and they were encouraged by the example of Fred- 
eric III., who superintended in person the whole operations of 
the siege ; nevertheless, they must certainly have yielded, had 
not the Dutch, who were alarmed for their commerce in the Bal- 
tic, sent a fleet to the assistance of Denmark. These republi- 
cans fought an obstinate naval battle with the Swedes in the 
Sound (29th October 1658.) The Swedish fleet was repulsed, 
and the Dutch succeeded in relieving Copenhagen, by throwing 
in a supply of provisions and ammunition. 

The King of Sweden persisted, nevertheless, in his determi- 
nation to reduce that capital. He was not even intimidated by 
the treaties which France, England, and Holland, had conclu- 
ded at the Hague, for maintaining the equilibrium of the North ; 
but a premature death, at the age of thirty-eight, put an end to 
his ambitious projects (23d February 1660.) The regents who 
governed the kingdom during the minority of his son Charles 
XI., immediately set on foot negotiations Avith all the powers 
that were in league against Sweden. By the peace which they 
concluded at Copenhagen with Denmark (July 3, 1660,) they 
surrendered to that crown several of their late conquests ; re- 
serving to themselves only the provinces of Schonen, Bleckin- 
gen, Halland, and Bohus. The Duke of Holstein-Gottorp, the 
protege of Charles X., was secured by that treaty in the sove- 
reignty of that part of Sleswick, which had been guaranteed to 
him by a former treaty concluded at Copenhagen. The war 
with Poland, and her allies the Elector of Brandenburg and the 
Emperor, v/as terminated by the peace of Oliva (May 3d 1660.) 
The King of Poland gave up his pretensions to the crown of 
Sweden ; while the former ceded to the latter the provinces of 
Livonia and Esthonia, and the islands belonging to them ; to be 
possessed on the same terms that had been agreed on at the 
treaty of Stumsdorf in 1635. The Duke of Courland was re-es- 
tablished in his dutchy, and the sovereignty of ducal Prussia 
confirmed to the House of Brandenburg. Peace between Swe- 
den and Russia was concluded at Kardis in Esthonia ; Avhiie 
the latter power surrendered to Sweden all the places which 
she had conquered in Livonia. 

Sweden was afterwards drawn into the war against the Duicli 
by Louis XIV., when she experienced nothing but disasters. 



: I 



PERIOD VII. A. D. 1648 — 1713. 315 

She was deprived of all her provinces in the Empire, and only 
regained possession of them in virtue of the treaties of Zell, 
Nimeguen, St. Germain-en-Laye, Fountainbleau, and Lunden 
(1679,) which she concluded successively with the powers in 
league against France. Immediately after that peace, a revolu- 
tion happened in the government of Sweden. The abuse which 
the nobles made of their privileges, the extravagant authority 
claimed by the senate, and the different methods which the 
grandees employed for gradually usurping the domains of the 
crown, had excited the jealousy of the other orders of the state. 
It is alleged, that John Baron Gillenstiern, had suggested to 
Charles XI. the idea of taking advantage of this discontent to 
augment the royal authority, and humble the arrogance of the 
senate and the nobility. In compliance with his advice, the 
King assembled the Estates of the kingdom at Stockholm (1680 ;) 
and having quartered some regiments of his own guards in the 
city, he took care to remove such of the nobles as might give 
the greatest cause of apprehension. An accusation was lodged 
at the Diet against those ministers who had conducted the ad- 
ministration during the King's minority. To them were attri- 
buted the calamities and losses of the state, and for these they 
were made responsible. The Senate was also implicated. They 
were charged with abusing their authority ; and it was proposed 
that the Stales should make investigation, whether the powers 
which the Senate had assumed were conformable to the laws of 
the kingdom. The States declared that the King was not bound 
by any other form of government than that which the constitu- 
tion prescribed ; that the Senate formed neither a fifth order, nor 
an intermediate power between the King and the States ; and 
that it ought to be held simply as a Council, with whom the 
{ King might consult and advise. 

A College of Reunion, so called, was also established at this 
Diet, for the purpose of making inquiry as to the lands granted, 
sold, mortgaged, or exchanged by preceding Kings, either in 
Sweden or Livonia ; with an offer on the part of the crown to 
reimburse the proprietors for such sums as they had originally 
paid for them. This proceeding made a considerable augmen- 
tation to the revenues of the crown ; but a va^ number of pro- 
prietors were completely ruined by it. A subsequent diet went 
even further than that of 1680. They declared, by statute, that 
though the King was enjoined to govern his dominions accord- 
iug to the laws, this did not take from him the power of altering 
these laws. At length the act of 1693 decreed that the Kiny 
was absolute master, and sole depository of the sovereign power; 
without being responsible for his actions to any power en earth ; 



316 



CHAPTER Vm. 



and that he was entitled to govern the kingdom according to his 
will and pleasure. 

It was in virtue of these different enactments and concessions, 
that the absolute power which had been conferred on Charles 
XL, was transmitted to the hands of his son Charles XII., who 
was only fifteen years of age when he succeeded his father 
(April 1, 1697.) By the abuse which this Prince made of these 
dangerous prerogatives, he plunged Sweden into an abyss of 
troubles; and brought her down from that high rank which she 
had occupied in the political system of Europe, since the reign 
of Gustavus Adolphus. The youth of Charles appeared to his 
neighbours to afford them a favourable opportunity for recover- 
ing what they had lost by the conquests of his predecessors. 
Augustus II., King of Poland, being desirous to regain Livonia, 
and listening to the suggestions of a Livonian gentleman, named 
John Patkul, who had been proscribed in Sweden, he set on foot 
a negotiation with the courts of Russia and Copenhagen ; the 
result of which was, a secret and offensive alliance concluded 
between these three powers against Sweeden (1699.) Peter the 
Great, who had just conquered Azoff at the mouth of the Don. 
and equipped his first fleet, was desirous also to open up the coasts 
of the Baltic, of which his predecessors had been dispossessed by 
Sweden. War accordingly broke out in the course of the year 
1700. The King of Poland invaded Livonia ; the Danes fell 
upon Sleswick, where they attacked the Duke of Holstein-Got- 
torp, the ally of Sweden ; while the Czar, at the head of an 
army of eighty thousand men, laid siege to the city of Narva. 

The King of Sweden, attacked by so many enemies at once, 
directed his first efforts against Denmark, where the danger ap- 
pear ^d most pressing. Assisted by the fleets of England and 
Holland, who had guaranteed the last peace, he made a descent 
on the Isle of Zealand, and advanced rapidly towards Copenha- 
gen. This obliged Frederic IV. to conclude a special peace 
with him at Travendahl (Aug. 18, 1700,) by which that prince 
consented to abandon his allies, and restore the Duke of Holstein- 
Gottorp to the same state in which he had been before the war. 
Nexi directing his march against the Czar in Esthonia, the young 
King forced the Russians from their entrenchments before Narva 
(Nov. 30,) and made prisoners of all the general and principal 
oflicers of the Russian army ; among others, Field-Marshal 
General the Duke de Croi. 

Having thus got clear of the Russians, the Swedish Monarch 
then attacked King Augustus, who had introduced a Saxon army 
into Poland, without being authorized by that Republic. Charles 
vanquished that prince in the three famous battles of Riga (1701,; 



I ; 



I ' 



PERIOD vn. A. D. 1648—1713. 317 

Clissau (1702,) and Pultusk (1703 ;) and obliged the Poles to 
depose him, and elect in his place Stanislaus Lecksinski, Pa- 
latine of Posen, and a proteg^ of his own. Two victories which 
were gained over the Saxons, and their allies the Russians, the 
one at Punie (1704,) and the other at Fraustadt (1706,) caused 
Stanislaus to be acknowledged by the whole Republic of Po- 
land, and enabled the King of Sweden to transfer the seat of 
war to Saxony. Having marched through Silesia, without the 
previous authority of the Court of Vienna, he took Leipzic. 
and compelled Augustus to sign a treaty of peace at Alt-Ran 
stadt, by which that Prince renounced his alliance with the 
Czar, and acknowledged Stanislaus legitimate King of Poland. 
John Patkul being delivered up to the King of Sweden, ac- 
cording to an article in that treaty, was broken on the wheel, 
for having been the principal instigator of the war. 

The prosperity of Charles XII., had now come to an end 
From this time he experienced only a series of reverses, which 
were occasioned as much by his passion for war, as by his in- 
discretions, and the unconquerable obstinacy of his character. 
The Russians had taken advantage of his long sojourn in Po- 
land and Saxony, and conquered the greater part of Ingria and 
Livonia. The Czar had now advanced into Poland, where he 
had demanded of the Poles to declare an interregnum, and elect 
a new King. In this state of matters, the King of Sweden left 
Saxony to march against the Czar ; and compelled him to eva- 
cuate Poland, and retire on Smolensko. Far from listenino-, 
however, to the equitable terms of peace which Peter offered 
him, he persisted in his resolution to march on to Moscow, in 
the hope of dethroning the Czar, as he had dethroned Augus- 
tus. The discontent which the innovations of the Czar had ex- 
cited in Russia, appeared to Charles a favourable opportunity 
for effecting his object ; but on reaching the neighbourhood ot 
Mohilew, he suddenly changed his purpose, and, instead of di- 
recting his rouie towards the capital of Russia, he turned to 
the right, and penetrated into the interior of the Ukraine, in 
order to meet Mazeppa, Hetman of the Cossacs, who had offered 
.0 join him with all his troops. Nothing could have been 
more imprudent than this determination. By thus marchino 
into the Ukraine, he separated himself from General Lewen- 
haupt, who had brought him, according to orders, a powerful re 
inforcement fromLivonia ; and trusted himself among a fickle and 
inconstant people, disposed to break faith on every opportunity. 

This inconsiderate step of Charles did not escape the pene- 
tration of the Czar, who knew well how to profit by it. Putting 
himself at the head of a chosen body, he intercepted General 



318 



CHAPTER Vra. 



Lewenhaupt, and joined him at Desna, two miles from Pro- 
poisk, in the Palatinate of Mscislaw. The battle which he 
fought with that general (October 9, 170S,) was most obstinate, 
and, by the confession of the Czar, the first victory which the 
Russians had gained over regular troops. The remains of 
Lewenhaupt's army, having joined the King in the Ukraine, 
Charles undertook the siege of Pultowa, situated on the banks 
of the Vorsklaw, at the extremity of that province. It was 
near this place, that the famous battle was fought (8th July, 
1709,) which blasted all the laurels of the King of Sweden. 
The Czar gained theia a complete victory. Nine thousand 
Swedes were left on ihe field of battle ; and fourteen thousand, 
who had retired with General Lewenhaupt, towards Perevo- 
latschna, between the Vorsklaw and the Nieper, were made pri- 
soners of war, three days after the action. Charles, accompanied 
by his ally Mazeppa, saved himself with difficulty at Bender in 
Turkey. 

This disastrous route revived the courage of the enemies of 
Sweden. The alliance was renewed between the Czar, Au- 
gustus II., and FredericIV.jKing of Denmark. Stanislaus was 
abandoned. AH Poland again acknowledged Augustus II. 
The Danes made a descent on Schonen ; and the Czar achieved 
the conquest of Ingria, Livonia, and Carelia. The Slates that 
were leagued against France in the war of the Spanish Suc- 
cession, wishing to prevent Germany from becoming the theatre 
of hostilities, concluded a treaty at the Hague (31st March 
1710,) by which they undertook, under certain conditions, to 
guarantee the neutrality of the Swedish provinces in Germany, 
as well as that of Sleswick and Jutland ; but the King of Swe- 
den having constantly declined acceding to this neutrality, the 
possessions of the Swedes in Germany were also seized ar.d 
conquered in succession. The Duke of Holstein-Gottorp, .he 
nephew of Charles XII., was involved in his disgrace, and 
stripped of his estates by the king of Denmark (1714.) 

In the midst of these disasters, the inflexible King of Swe- 
den persisted in prolonging his sojourn at Bender, making re- 
peated efforts to rouse the Turks against the Russians. He did 
not return from Turkey till 1714, when his affairs were already 
totally ruined. The attempts which he then made, either to 
renew the war in Poland, or invade the provinces of the Em- 
pire, excited the jealousy of the neighbouring powers. A for- 
midable league was raised against him ; besides the Czar, the 
Kings of Poland, Denmark, Prussia, and England, joined it. 
Stralsund and Wismar, the only places which Sweden still re- 
tained in Germany, fell into the hands of the allies ; while the 



1 1 



PERIOD vii. A. D. 1648— 1713. 319 

Cza'- added to these losses the conquest of Finland and Savolax, 
In a situation so desperate, Charles, by the advice of his minis- 
ter, Baron Gortz, set on foot a special and secret negotiation 
with the Czar, which took place in the isle of Aland, in course 
of the year 1718. There it was proposed to reinstate Stanis- 
laus on the throne of Poland ; to restore to Sweden her pos- 
sessions in the Empire ; and even to assist her in conquering 
Norway ; by way of compensation for the loss of Ingria, Ca- 
relia, Livonia, and Esthonia, which she was to cede to the Czar. 

That negotiation was on the point of being finally closed, 
when it was broken off by the ujiexpected death of Charles 
XII. That unfortunate prince was slain (December 11th, 1718,) 
at the siege of Fredericshall in Norway, while visiting the 
trenches ; being only thirty-seven years of age, and leaving the 
affairs of his kingdom in a most deplorable state. 

The new regency of Sweden, instead of remaining in friend- 
ship with the Czar, changed their policy entirely. Baron de 
Gortz, the friend of the late King, fell a sacrifice to the public 
displeasure, and a negotiation was opened with the Court of 
G.Britain. A treaty of peace and alliance was concluded at 
Stockholm (Nov. 20, 1719,) between Great Britain and Swe- 
den. George I., on obtaining the cession of the dutchies of 
Bremen and Verden, as Elector of Hanover, engaged to send a 
strong squadron to the Baltic, to prevent any further invasion 
from the Czar, and procure for Sweden more equitable terms of 
peace on the part of that Prince. The example of Great Bri- 
tain was soon followed by the other allied powers, who were 
anxious to accommodate matters with Sweden. By the treaty 
concluded at Stockholm (21st January, 1720,) the King of 
Prussia got the town of Stettin, and that part of Pomerania, 
v/hich lies between the Oder and the Peene. The King of i j 
Denmark consented to restore to Sweden the towns of Stral- I j 
sund and Wismar, with the isle of Rugen, and the part of Po- i i 
merania^ which extends from the sea to the river Peene. Swe- • j 
den, on ner side, renounced in favour of Denmark, her exemp- 
tion from the duties of the Sound and the two Belts, which had 
been guaranteed to her by former treaties. The Czar was the 
only person who, far from being intimidated by the menaces of 
England, persisted in his resolution of not making peace with 
Sweden, except on the conditions which he had dictated to her. 
The war was, therefore, continued between Russia and Sweden, 
during the two campaigns of 1720 and 1721. Different parts 
of the Swedish coast were laid desolate by the Czar, who put 
all to fire and sword, To stop the progress of these devasta 
lions, the Swedes at length consented to accept the peace which 



ll 



i" 



i I 



320 CHAPTER VIU. 

the Czar offered them, which was finally signed at Nystadt 
(13lh September 1721.) Finland was surrendered to Sweden 
on condition of her formally ceding to the Czar the provinces of 
Livonia, Esthonia, Ingria, and Carelia ; their limits to be deter- 
mined according to the regulations of the treaty. 

The ascendency which Sweden had gained in the North since 
the reign of Gustavus Adolphus, had become so fatal to Den- 
mark, that she was on the point of being utterly subverted, and 
effaced from the number of European powers. Nor did she 
extricate herself from the disastrous wars which she had to sup- 
port against Charles X., until she had sacrificed some of her 
best provinces ; such as Schonen, Bieckingen, Halland, and the 
government of Bohus, which Frederic III. ceded to Sweden by j j 
the treaties of Roschild and Copenhagen. It was at the close of i 
this war that a revolution happened in the governmentof Denmark. I 
Until that time, it had been completely under the aristocracy of the j j 
nobles ; the throne was elective ; and all power was coricentrated ! j 
in the hands of the senate, and the principal members of the j 
nobility. The royal prerogative was limited to the command of ! 
the army, and the presidency in the' Senate. The King was j | 
even obliged, by a special capitulation, in all affairs which did i 
not require the concurrence of the Senate, to take the advice of 1 1 
four great officers of the crown, viz. the Grand Master, the j 
Chancellor, the Marshal, and the Admiral ; who were considered I 
as so many channels or vehicles of the royal authority. ■ 

The state of exhaustion to which Denmark was reduced at 
the time she made peace Avith Sweden, obliged Frederic III. to 
convoke an assembly of the States-General of the kingdom. 
These, which were composed of three orders, viz. the nobility, 
the clergy, and the burgesses, had never been summoned to- 
gether in that form since the year 1536. At their meeting at 
Copenhagen, the two inferior orders reproached the nobles with 
having been the cause of all the miseries and disorders of the 
State, by the exorbitant and tyrannical power which they had 
usurped ; and what tended still more to increase their animosity 
against them, was the obstinacy with which they maintained 
their privileges and exemptions from the public burdens, to the 
prejudice of the lower orders. One subject of discussion was, 
to find a tax, the proceeds of which should be applied to the most 
pressing wants of the State. The nobles proposed a duty on 
articles of consumption ; but under restrictions with regard to 
themselves, that could not but exasperate the lower orders. The 
latter proposed, in testimony of their discontent, to let out to the 
highest bidder the fiefs of the crown, which the nobles held at 
rents extremely moderate. This proposal was highly resented 



I 1 



PERIOD VII. A. D. 1648 1713. 



321 



by the nobility, who regarded it as a blow aimed at tnelr rights 
and properties ; and they persisted in urging a tax on articles of 
consumption, such as they had proposed. Certain unguarded 
expressions which escaped some of the members of the nobility, 
gave rise to a tumult of indignation, and suggested to the two 
leaders of the clergy and the burgesses, viz. the bishop of Zea- 
land and the burgomaster of Copenhagen, the idea of framing 
a declaration for the purpose of rendering the crown hereditary, 
both in the male and female descendants of Frederic III. It 
was not difficult for them to recommend this project to their 
respective orders, who flattered themselves that, under a heredi- 
tary monarchy, they would enjoy that equality which was denied 
them under an aristocracy of the nobles. The act of this de- 
claration having been approved and signed by the two orders, 
was presented in their name to the Senate, who rejected it, on 
the ground that the States-General then assembled, had no right 
to deliberate on that proposition ; but the clergy and the burges- 
ses, Avithout being disconcerted, went in a body to the King, 
carrying with them the Act which offered to make the crown 
hereditary in his family. The nobles having made a pretence 
of wishing to quit the city in order to break up the Diet, care was 
taken to shut the doors. The members of the Senate and the 
nobility had then no other alternative left than to agree to the 
resolution of the two inferior orders ; and the offer of the c^o^vn: 
was made to the King by the three orders conjunctly ( I3th October 
1660.) They then tendered him the capitulation, which was 
annulled ; and at the same time they liberated him from the oath 
which he had taken on the day of his coronation. A sort of 
dictatorship was then conferred on him, to regulate the new con- 
stitutional charter, according to his good pleasure. All the orders 
of the State then took a new oath of fealty and homage to him, 
while the King himself was subjected to no oath whatever. 
Finally, the three orders separately remitted an Act to the King, 
declaring the crown hereditary in all the descendants of Frederic 
III., both male and female ; conferring on him and his succes- 
sors an unlimited power j and granting him the privilege of 
regulating the order both of the regency and the succession to 
the throne. 

Thus terminated that important revolution, without any dis- 
order, and without sheddmg a single drop of blood. It was in 
virtue of those powers which the States had conferred on him, 
that the King published what is called the Royal Law, regarded 
as the only fundamental law of Denmark. The King was there 
declared absolute sovereign, above all human laws, acknowledg- 
mg no superior but God, and unitinsr in his own person all the 

til 



322 



CHAPTER VIU. 



rights and prerogatives of royalty, without any exception whatever 
He could exercise these prerogatives in virtue of his own author 
ily ; but he was obliged to respect the Royal Law ; and he could 
neither touch the Confession of Augsburg, which had been 
adopted as the national religion, nor authorize any partition of 
the kingdom, which was declared indivisible ; nor change the 
order of succession as established by the Royal Law. That suc- 
cession was lineal, according to the right of primogeniture and 
descent. Females were only admitted, failing all the male issue 
3f Frederic III. ; and the order in which they were to succeed, 
was defined with the most scrupulous exactness. The term of 
majority was fixed at the age of thirteen ; and it was in the 
power of the reigning monarch to regulate, by his will, the tutor- 
age and the regency during such minority. 

This constitutional law gave the Danish government a vigour 
which it never had before ; the effects of which were manifested 
in the war which Christian V. undertook against Sweden 
(1675,) in consequence of his alliance with Frederic William, 
Elector of Brandenburg. The Danes had the advantage of the 
Swedes both by sea and land. Their fleet, under the command 
of Niels Juel, gained two naval victories over them, the one 
near the Isle of Oeland, and the other in the bay of Kioge, on 
the coast of Zealand (1677.) That war was terminated by the 
peace of Lunden (Oct. 6th 1679,) which restored matters be- 
tween the two nations, to the same footing on which they had 
been before the war. The severe check which Sweden re- 
ceived by the defeat of Charles XIL, before Pultowa, tended to 
extricate Denmark from the painful situation in which she had 
been placed with respect to that power. The freedom of the 
Sound, which Sweden had maintained during her prosperity, 
was taken from her by the treaty of Stockholm, and by the ex- 
planatory articles of Fredericsburg, concluded between Sweden 
and Denmark, (14th June 1720.) That kingdom likewise re- 
tained, in terms of the treaty, the possession of the whole dutchy 
of Sieswick, with a claim to the part belonging to the duke of 
Holstein-Gottorp, whom Sweden was obliged to remove from 
under her protection. 

Poland, at the commencement of this period, presented an 
afflicting spectacle, under the unfortunate reign of John Casimir, 
the brother and successor of Uladislaus VIL (1648.) Distracted 
at once by foreign wars and intestine factions, she seemed every 
moment on the brink of destruction ; and while the neighbour- 
ing states were augmenting their forces, and strengthening the 
hands of their governments, Poland grew gradually weaker and 
weaker, and at length degenerated into absolute anarchv. The 



PERIOD VII. A. D. 1648—1713. 323 

origin of the Liberum Veto of the Poles, which allowed the op- 
position of a single member to frustrate the deliberations of the 
whole Diet, belongs to the reign of John Casimir. The first 
that suspended the Diet, by the interposition of his veto, was 
Schinski, member for Upita in Lithuania ; his example, though 
at first disapproved, found imitators ; and this foolish practice, 
which allowed one to usurp the prerogative of a majority, soon 
passed into a law, and a maxim of state. 

Towards the end of the reign of Uladislaus VII. a murderous 
war had arisen in Poland, that of the Cossacs. This warlike 
people, of Russian origin, as their language and their religion 
prove, inhabited both banks of the Borysthenes, beyond Kiow ; 
where they were subdivided into regiments, under the command 
of a general, called Hetman ; and served as a military frontier 
for Poland against the Tartars and Turks. Some infringements 
that had been made on their privileges, added to the efforts which 
the Poles had made to induce their clergy to separate from the 
Greek Church, and acknowledge the supremacy of the Pope, ex- 
asperated the Cossacs, and engendered among them a spirit of 
revolt (1647.) Assisted by the Turks of the Crimea, they in- 
vaded Poland, and committed terrible devastations. The Poles 
succeeded from time to time in pacifying them, and even con- 
cluded a treaty with them ; but the minds of both parties being 
exasperated, hostilities always recommenced with every new 
offence. At length, their Hetman, Chmielniski, being hardly 
pressed by the Poles, took the resolution of soliciting the protec- 
tion of Russia, and concluded a treaty with the Czar Alexis 
Michaelovitz (Jan. 16, 1654,) in virtue of which, Kiow and the 
other towns of the Ukraine, under the power of the Cossacs, 
were planted with Russian garrisons. It Avas on this occasion 
that the Czar retook the city of Smolensko from the Poles, as 
well as most of the districts that had been ceded to Poland, by 
the treaties of Dwilina and Viasma. That prince made also 
several other conquests from the Poles; he took possession of 
Wilna, and several places in Lithuania, at the very time when 
Charles X. was invading Poland, and threatening that country 
with entire destruction. The Czar, however, instead of fol. ow- 
ing up his conquests, judged it more for his interest to conclude 
a truce with the Poles ^1656,) that he might turn his arms 
against Sweden. 

The peace of Oliva put an end to the war between Poland and 
Sweden ; but hostilities were renewed between the Russians 
and the Poles, which did not terminate till the treaty of Andrus- 
!50v (Jan. 1667.) The Czar restored to the Poles a part of his 
conquests ; but he retained Smolensko, Novogorod-Sieverskoe. 



324 



CtlAFfbR Vm. 



Tchernigov, Kiow, and all the country of the Cossacs, beyond 
the Borysthenes or Dnieper. The Cossacs on this side the 
river were annexed to Poland, and as for those who dwelt near 
the mouth of the Dnieper, called Zaporogs, it was agreed that 
they should remain under the common jurisdiction of the two 
states ; ready to serve against the Turks whenever circumstances 
might require it. The wars of which we have just spoken, were 
attended with troubles and dissensions, Avhich reduced Poland 
to the most deplorable condition during the reign of John Casi- 
mir. That prince at length, disgusted with a crown which he 
had found to be composed of thorns, resolved to abdicate the 
throne (16th Sept. 1668;) and retiring to France, he there ended 
his days. 

Michael Wiesnouiski, who succeeded John Casimir, after a 
stormy interregnum of seven months, had no other merit than 
that of being descended in a direct line from Coribut, the brother 
of Jagellon, King of Poland. His reign was a scene of great 
agitation, and of unbridled anarchy. Four diets were interrupted 
in less than four years ; the war with the Cossacs was renewed ; 
the Turks and the Tartars, the allies of the Cossacs, seized the 
city of Kaminiec (1672,) the only bulwark of Poland against the 
Ottomans. Michael, being thrown into a state of alarm, con- 
cluded a disgraceful peace with the Turks ; he gaA-^e up to them 
Kaminiec and Podolia, with their ancient limits ; and even 
agreed to pay them an annual tribute of twenly-two thousand 
ducats. The Ukraine, on this side the Borysthenes, was aban- 
doned to the Cossacs, who were to be placed under the protection 
of the Turks. This treaty was not ratified by the Republic of 
Poland, who preferred to continue the war. John Sobieski, 
Grand General of the Crown, gained a brilliant victory over the 
Turks near Choczim (Nov. 11th, 1673.) It took place the next 
day after the death of Michael, and determined the Poles to con- 
fer their crown on the victorious General. 

Sobieski did ample justice to the choice of his fellow-citizens. 
By the peace which he concluded at Zarowno with the Turks 
(26th Oct. 1676,) he relieved Poland from the tribute lately pro 
mised, and recovered som.e parts of the Ukraine ; but the city c 
Kaminiec was left in the power of the Ottomans, with a consid- 
erable portion of the Ukraine and Podolia. Poland then entered 
into an alliance with the House of Austria, against the Porte 
Sobieski became the deliverer of Vienna ; he signalized himself 
in the campaigns of 1683 and 1684 ; and if he did not gain any 
important advantages over the Turks, if he had not' even the 
satisfaction of recovering Kaminiec and Podolia, it must be as- 
cribed to the incompetence of his means, and to the disunion and 



PERIOD VII. A. r. 164S— 1713. 325 

indifTerence of the Poles, who refused to make a single sacrifice 
in the cause. Sobieski was even forced to have recourse to the 
protection of the Kussians against the Turks ; and saw himself 
leduced to the painful necessity of setting his hand to the defi- 
nitive peace which was concluded with Russia at Moscow (May 
(ith, 1686,) by which Poland, in order to obtain the alliance of 
that power against the Ottomans, consented to give up Smolen- 
fcko, Belaia, Dorogobuz, Tchernigov, Starodub, and Novogorod- 
Sieverskoe, with their dependencies ; as also the whole territory 
known by the name of Little Russia, situated on the left bank of 
the Borysthenes, between that river and the frontier of Putivli, 
as far as Perevoloczna. The city of Kiow, with its territory as 
determined by the treaty, was also included in that cession. 
Finally, the Cossacs, called Zaporogs and Kudafc, Avho, accord- 
ing to the treaty of Andrussov, ought to have been dependencies 
of these two states, were reserved exclusively to Russia. Sobie- 
ski shed tears when he was obliged to sign that treaty at Leopold 
(or Lemberg,) in presence of the Russian ambassadors. 

The war with the Turks did not terminate until the reign of 
Augustus n. the successor of John Sobieski. The peace of 
Carlowitz, which that prince concluded with the Porte (1699,) 
procured for Poland the restitution of Kaminiec, as well as that 
part of the Ukraine, which the peace of Zarowno had ceded to 
the Turks. 

Russia became every day more prosperous under the princes 
of the House of Romanow. She gained a decided superiority 
over Poland, who had formerly dictated the law to her. Alexis 
Michaelovitz not only recovered from the Poles what they had 
conquered from Russia during the disturbances occasioned by 
the two pretenders of the name of Demetrius ; we have already 
observed, that he dispossessed them ot Kiow, and all that part 
of the Ukraine, or Little Russia, which lies on the left bank of 
the Borysthenes. 

Theodore Alexievitz, the son and successor of Alexis Mi- 
chaelovitz, rendered his reign illustrious by the wisdom of his 
administration. Guided by the advice of his enlightened mi- 
nister. Prince Galitzin, he conceived the bold project of abolish- 
ing the hereditary orders of the nobility, and the prerogatives 
that were attached to them. These orders were destructive of 
all subordination in civil as well as in military affairs, and gave 
rise to a multitude of disputes and litigations, of which a court, 
named Rozrad, took cognizance. The Czar, in a grand assem- 
bly which he convoked at Moscow (1682,) abolished the here- 
ditary rank of the nobles. He burnt the deeds and registers 
by wh'ch they were attested, and obliged every noble family to 



Jj 



326 CHAPTER vra. 

produce the extracts of these registers, which they had in their 
possession, that they might be committed to the flames. That 
prince having no children of his own, had destined his younger 
brother Peter Alexievitz to be his successor, to the exclusion of 
John, his elder brother, on account of his incapacity. But, on 
the death of Theodore, both princes were proclaimed at once by 
the military, and the government was intrusted to the Princess 
Sophia, their elder sister, who assumed the title of Autocratix 
and Sovereign of all the Russias. Peter, who was the son of 
the second marriage of the Czar, was at that time only ten 
years of age. It was during the administration of the Princess 
Sophia that the peace of Moscow was concluded (May 6, 1686 ;) 
one clause of which contained an alliance, offensive and defen- 
sive, between Russia and Poland against the Porte. 

Peter had no sooner attained the age of seventeen than he 
seized the reins of government, and deposed his sister Sophia, 
whom he sent to a convent. Endowed with an extraordinary 
genius, this Prince became the reformer of his Empire, which, 
under his reign, assumed an aspect totally new. By the advice 
of Le Fort, a native of Geneva, who had entered the Russian 
service, and whom he had received into his friendship and con- 
fidence, he turned his attention to every branch of the public 
administration. The military system was changed, and mo- 
delled after that of the civilized nations of Europe. He found- 
ed the maritime power of Russia, improved her finances, en- 
couraged commerce and manufactures, introduced letters and 
arts into his dominions, and applied himself to reform the lav/s, 
to polish and refine the manners of the people. 
I ! Peter, being in alliance with Poland, engaged in the war 
against the Porte, and laid open the Black Sea by his conquest 
of the city and port of Azoff; and it was on this occasion that 
he equipped his first fleet at Woronitz. Azoff remained in his 
possession, by an article of the peace which was concluded with 
the Porte at Constantinople (13th July, 1700.) About the same 
time, Peter abolished the patriarchal dignity, which ranked the 
head of the Russian Church next to the Czar, and gave him a 
dangerous influence in the affairs of government. He trans- 
ferred the authority of the patriarch to a college of fifteen per- 
sons, called the Most Holy Synod, whose duty it was to take 
cognizance of ecclesiastical affairs, and in general, of all matters 
which had fallen within the jurisdiction of the patriarch. The 
members of this college were obliged to take the oath at the 
hands of the Sovereign, and to be appointed by him on the pre- 
sentation of the Synod. 

Being desirous of seeing and examining in person the man- 



li 



PERIOD VII. A. n 1648—1713. 327 

ners and customs of other nations, he undertook two diflferenl 
v^cyages into foreign countries, divested of that pomp which is | 
the usual accompaniment of princes. During these travels, he 
cultivated the arts and sciences, especially those connected with 
commerce and navigation ; he engaged men of talents in his 
services, such as naval officers, engineers, surgeons, artists, and 
mechanics of all kinds, whom he dispersed over his vast do- 
minions, to instruct and improve the Russians. During his first 
voyage to Holland and England, the Strelitzes, the only per- 
manent troops known in Russia before his time, revolted ; they 
were first instituted by the Czar, John Basilovitz IV. They 
fought after the manner of the Janissaries, and enjoyed nearly 
the same privileges. Peter, with the intention of disbanding 
these seditious and undisciplined troops, had stationed them on the 
frontiers of Lithuania ; he had also removed them from being his 
own body-guard, a service which he entrusted to the regiments 
raised by himself This sort of degradation incensed the Stre- 
litzes, who took the opportunity of the Czar's absence to revolt. 
They directed their march to the city of Moscow, with the design 
of deposing the Czar, and replacing Sophia on the throne ; but 
they were defeated by the Generals Schein and Gordon, who had 
marched to oppose them. Peter, on his return, caused two 
thousand of them to be executed, and incorporated the rest among 
his troops. He afterwards employed foreign officers, either Ger- 
mans or Swedes, to instruct the Russians in the military art. 

It was chiefly during the war with Sweden that the Russian 
army was organized according to the European system. The 
Czar took advantage of the check he had sustained before Narva 
(Nov. 30, 1700,) to accomplish this important change in levying, 
equipping, and training all his troops after the German manner. 
He taught the Russians the art of combating and conquering the 
Swedes ; and while the King of Sweden was bent on the ruin 
of Augustus II., and made but feeble efforts against the Czar, 
the latter succeeded in conquering Ingria from the Swedes, and 
laid open the navigation of the Baltic. He took the fortress of 
Noteburg (1702,) which he afterwards called Schlisselburg ; he 
next made himself master of Nyenschantz, Kopori, and Jamp 
(now Jamburg) in Ingria. The port of Nyenchantz was entirely 
razed ; and the Czar laid the foundation of St. Petersburg in 
one of the neighbouring islands of the Neva (May 27, 1703.) In 
the middle of winter he constructed the fort of Cronschlot to 
serve as a defence for the new city, which he intended to make 
the capital of his Empire, and the principal dep6t for the com- 
merce and marine of Russia. The fortune of this new capital 



328 CHAPTER VIII. 

was decided by the famous battle of Pultowa (July 8, 1709,) 
which likewise secured the preponderance of Russia in the North. 

Charles XII., who had taken refuge in Turkey, used every 
effort to instigate the Turks against the Russians ; and he suc- 
ceeded by dint of intrigue. The Porte declared war againsi. the 
Czar towards the end of the year 1710 ; the latter opened the 
campaign of 1711 by an expedition which he undertook into 
Moldavia ; but having rashly penetrated into the interior of that 
province, he was surrounded by the Grand Vizier near Falczi 
on the Pruth. Besieged in his camp by an army vastly supe- 
rior to his own, and reduced to the last necessity, he found no 
other means of extricating himself from this critical situation, 
than by agreeing to a treaty, which he signed in the camp of 
Falczi (21st July 1711 ;) in virtue of which, he consented to re- 
store to the Turks the fortress of Azoff, with its territory and 
its dependencies. This loss was amply compensated by the im- 
portant advantages which the peace with Sweden, signed at Ny- 
stadt (Sept. 10, 1721,) procured the Czar. It was on this occa- 
sion that the Senate conferred on him the epithet of Great, the 
Father of his Country, and Emperor of all the Russias. His 
inauguration to the Imperial dignity took place, October 22d 
1721, the very day of the rejoicing that had been appointed for 
the celebration of the peace. Peter himself put the Imperial 
crown on his own head. 

That great prince had the vexation to see Alexis Czarowitz 
his son, and presumptive heir to the Empire, thwarting all his 
improvements, and caballing in secret with his enemies. Being 
at length compelled to declare that he had forfeited his right to 
the throne, he had him condemned to death as a traitor (1718.) 
In consequence of this tragical event, he published an Ukase, 
which vested in the reigning prince the privilege of nominating 
his successor, and even of changing the appointment whenever 
he might judge it necessary. This arrangement became fatal to 
Russia ; the want of a fixed and permanent order of succession 
occasioned troubles and revolutions which frequently distracted 
the whole Empire. This law, moreover, made no provision in 
cases where the reigning prince might neglect to settle the suc- 
cession during his life ; as happened with Peter himself, who 
died without making or appointing any successor (Feb. 1725.) 
Catherine I., his spouse, ascended the throne, which, after a 
reign of two years, she transmitted to Peter, son of the unfortu- 
nate Alexis. 

In Hungary, the precautions that had been taken by the States 
of Presburg to establish civil and religious liberty on a solid ba- 
sis, did not prevent disturbances from springing up in that king- 



PERIOD vii. A. 1). 1648— 171b. 329 

dom. The Court of Vienna, perceiving the necessity of consoh- 
dating its vast monarchy, whose incoherent parts were suffering 
from the want of unity, eagerly seized these occasions for ex- 
tending its power in Hungary, where it was greatly circumscri- 
bed by the laws and constitution of the country. Hence those 
perpetual infringements of which the Hungarians had to com- 
plain ; and those ever-recurring disturbances in which the Otto- 
man Turks, who shared with Austria the dominion of Hungary, 
were also frequently implicated. 

Transylvania, as well as a great part of Hungary, was then 
dependent on the Turks. The Emperor Leopold I. having 
granted his protection to John Kemeny, Prince of Transylvania, 
against Michael Abafii, a protege of the Turks, a war between 
the two Empires seemed to be inevitable. The Diet of Hunga- 
ry, which the Emperor had assembled at Presburg on this sub- 
ject (1662,) was most outrageous. The States, before they 
would give any opinion as to the war against the Turks, de- 
manded that their own grievances should be redressed ; and the 
assembly separated without coming to any conclusion. The 
Turks took advantage of this dissension, and seized the fortress 
of Neuheusel, and several other places. The Emperor, incapa- 
ble of opposing them, and distrustful of the Hungarian malecon- 
tents, had recourse to foreign aid. This he obtained at the Diet 
of the Empire ; and Louis XIV. sent him a body of six thou- 
sand men, under command of the Count de Coligni. An action 
took place (1664) near St. Gothard, in which the French signal- 
ized their bravery. The Turks sustained a total defeat ; but 
Montecuculi, the commander-in-chief of the Imperial army, fail- 
ed to take advantage of his victory. A truce of twenty years 
was soon after concluded at Temeswar, in virtue of which the 
Turks retained Neuheusel, Waradin, and Novigrad. Michael 
Abafii, their tributary and protege, was continued in Transyl- 
vania ; and both parties engaged to withdraw their troops from 
that province. 

This treaty highly displeased the Hungarians, as it had been 
■concluded without their concurrence. Their complaints against 
ihe Court of Vienna became louder than ever. They complain- 
ed, especially, that the Emperor should entertain German troops 
in the kingdom ; that he should intrust the principal fortresses 
to foreigners ; and impose shackles on their religious liberties. 
The Court of Vienna having paid no regard to these grievances, 
several of the nobles entered into a league for the preservation 
of their rights ; but they were accused of holding correspondence 
with the Turks, and conspiring against the person of the Empe- 
ror. The Counts Zrini, Nadaschdi, Frangepan, and Tattenbach 



I 



330 CHAPTER vm. 

were condemned as gnilty of high treason (1671,) and bad their 
heads cut off on the scaffold. A vast number of the Protestant 
clergy were either banished or condemned to the galleys, as 
implicated in the conspiracy ; but this severity, far from abating 
these disturbances, tended rather to augment them. The sup- 
pression of the dignity of Palatine of Hungary, which took place 
about the same time, added to the cruelties and extortions of all 
kinds practised by the German troops, at length raised a general 
insurrection, which ended in a civil war (1677.) The insur- 
gents at first chose the Count Francis Wesselini as their leader, 
who was afterwards replaced by Count Emeric Tekeli. These 
noblemen were encouraged in their enterprise, and secretly abet- 
ted by France and the Porte. 

The Emperor then found it necessary to comply ; and, in a 
Diet which he assembled at Odenburg, he granted redress to 
most of the grievances of which the Hungarians had to com- 
plain; but Count Tekeli having disapproved of the resolutions 
of this Diet, the civil war was continued, and the Count soon 
found means to interest the Turks and the prince of Transylva- 
nia in his quarrel. The Grand Vizier Kara Mustapha, at the 
head of the Ottoman forces, came and laid siege to Vienna (July 
14, 1683.) A Polish army marched to the relief of that place 
under their King, John Sobieski, who was joined by Charles 
IV., Duke of Lorraine, General of the Imperial troops; they 
attacked the Turks in their entrenchments before Vienna, and 
compelled them to raise the siege (September 12, 1683.) Every 
thing then succeeded to the Emperor's wish. Besides Poland, 
the Russians and the Republic of Venice took part in this war 
in favour of Austria. A succession of splendid victories, gained 
by the Imperial generals, Charles Duke of Lorraine, Prince 
Louis of Baden, and Prince Eugene, procured for Leopold the 
conquest of all that part of Hungary, which had continued since 
the reign of Ferdinand I. in the power of the Ottomans. The 
fortress of Neuheusel was taken, in consequence of the battle 
which the Duke of Lorraine gained over the Turks at Strigova 
(1685.) The same General took by assault the city of Buda, 
the capital of Hungary, which had been in possession of the 
.Turks since 1541, The memorable victory of Mohacz, gained 
by the Imperialists (1687,) again reduced Transylvania and 
Sclavonia under the dominion of Austria. These continued 
reverses cost the Grand Vizier his life ; he was strangled by 
order of the Sultan, Mahomet IV., who was himself deposed 
by his rebellious Janissaries. 

Encouraged by these brilliant victories, the Emperor Leopold 
assembled the States of Hungary at Presburg. He there de- 



PERIOD VII A. D. 1648 — 1713. 



331 



marided, that, in conrideration of tne extraordinary efforts he 
had been obliged to make against the Ottomans, the kingdom 
should be declared hereditary in his family. The States at 
first appeared inclined to maintain their own right of election : 
but yielding soon to the influence of authority, they agreed to 
make the succession hereditary in favour of the males of the two 
Austrian branches ; on the extinction of which they were to be 
restored to their ancient rights. As for the privileges of the 
States, founded on the decree of King Andrew II., they were 
renewed at that Diet ; with the exception of that clause in the 
thirty-first article of the decree, Avhich authorized the States to 
oppose, by open force, any prince that should attempt to infringe 
the rights and liberties of the country. The Jesuits, who were 
formerfy proscribed, were restored, and their authority establish- 
ed throughout all the provinces of the kingdom. The Protes- 
tants of both confessions obtained the confirmation of the churches 
and prerogatives that had been secured to them by the articles 
of the Diet of Odenburg ; but it was stipulated, that only Catho- 
lics were entitled to possess property within the kingdoms of 
Dalmatia, Croatia and Sclavonia. The Archduke Joseph, son 
of Leopold I., was crowned at this Diet (December 19, 1687,) 
as the first hereditary King of Hungary. 

The arms of Austria were crowned with new victories during 
the continuation of the war against the Turks. Albe-Royale, 
Belgrade, Semendria, and Gradisca, fell into the hands of the 
Emperor. The two splendid victories at Nissa and Widdin, 
which Louis prince of Baden gained (1689,) secured to the Aus 
trians the conquest of Servia, Bosnia, and Bulgaria. The de- 
jected courage of the Ottomans was for a time revived by their 
new Grand Vizier Mustapha Kiupruli, a man of considerable 
genius. After gaining several advantages over the Imperialists, 
he took from them Nissa, Widdin, Semendria, and Belgrade ; 
and likewise reconquered Bulgaria, Servia, and Bosnia. The 
extraordinary efforts that the Porte made for the campaign of 
the following year, inspired them with hopes of better success ; 
but their expectations were quite disappointed by the unfortu- 
nate issue of the famous battle of Salankemen, which the Prince 
of Baden gained over the Turks, (Aug. 19, 1691.) The brave 
Kiupruli was slain, and his death decided the victory in favour 
of the Imperialists. The war with France, however, which then 
occupied the principal forces of Austria, did not permit the Em- 
peror to reap any advantage from this victory ; he was even 
obliged, in the following campaigns, to act on the defensive m 
Hungary ; and it was not until the conclusion of peace wuh 
France, that he was able to resume the war against the Turks- 



332 CHAPTER vm. 

nrith fresh vigour. Prince Eugene, who was then commander- 
in-chief of the Imperial army, attacked the Sultan Mustapha 
II. in person, n-ear Zenta on the river Teiss (Sept. 11, 1697,) 
where he gained a decisive victory. The grand Vizier, seven- 
tuen Pachas, and two thirds of the Ottoman army, were left 
dead on the field of battle ; and the grand Seignior was com- 
pelled to fall back in disorder on Belgrade. 

This terrible blow made the Porte exceedingly anxious for 
pea^e ; and he had recourse to the mediation of England and 
Holland. A negotiation, which proved as tedious as it was in- 
tricate, was set on foot at Constantinople, and thence transfer- 
red to Carlowitz, a town of Sclavonia lying between the two 
camps, one of which was at Peterwaradin, and the other at 
Belgrade. Peace was there concluded with the Emperor 
and his allies (Jan. 26, 1699.) The Emperor, by that treaty, 
retained Hungary, Transylvania and Sclavonia, with the ex- 
ception of the Banat of Temeswar, which was reserved to the 
Porte. The rivers Marosch, Teiss, Save, and Unna, were 
fixed as the limits between the two Empires. The Count Te- 
keli, who during the whole of this war had constantly espoused 
the cause of the Porte, was allowed to remain in the Ottoman 
territory ; with such of the Hungarians and Transylvanians as 
adhered to him. 

The peace of Carlowitz had secured to the Emperor nearly 
the whole of Hungary ; but, glorious though it was, it did not. 
restore the internal tranquillity of the kingdom, which very 
soon experienced fresh troubles. The same complaints that 
had arisen after the peace of Temeswar, were renewed after 
that of Carlowitz ; to these were even added several others, oc- 
casioned by the introduction of the hereditary succession, at 
he Diet of 1687, by the suppression of the clause in the thirty- 
first article of the decree of Andrew II., by the restoration of 
he Jesuits and the banishment of Tekeli and his adherents. 
Nothing was wanted but a ringleader for the malecontents to 
rekindle the flames of civil war, and this leader was soon found 
in the person of the famous Prince Ragoczi, who appeared on 
^.he scene about the beginning of the eighteenth century, and 
when the greater part of Europe were involved in the war ol 
the Spanish Succession. 

Francis Ragoczi was the grandson of George Ragoczi XL, 
who had been prince of Transylvania ; and held a distinguish- 
ed rank in the States of Hungary, not more by his illustrio-'^s 
birth than by the great possessions which belonged to his fa- 
mily. The Court of Vienna, which entertained suspicions ol 
hiiu on account of his near relationship with Tekeli, had kept 



PERIOD VII. A. D. 1648—1713. 333 

him in a sort of captivity from his earliest infancy ; ana he 
was not set at large, nor restored to the possession of his estates, 
until 1694, when he married a princess of Hesse-Rheinfels. 
From that time he resided quietly on his estates, holding his 
Court at Sarosch, in the district of the same name. Being sus- 
pected of having concerted a conspiracy with the malecontents, 
he was arrested by order of the Court of Vienna (1701.) and 
carried to Neustadt in Austria, whence he escaped and retired 
to Poland. Being condemned as guilty of high treason, and 
his estates declared forfeited, he took the resolution of placing 
himself at the head of the rebels, and instigating Hungary 
against the Emperor. France, who had just joined in the war 
with Austria, encouraged him in that enterprise, which she 
regarded as a favourable event for creating a diversion on the 
part of her enemy. Having arrived in Hungary, Ragoczi pub- 
lished a manifesto (1703,) in which he detailed the motives of 
his conduct, and exhorted the Hungarians to join him, for vin- 
dicating their ancient liberties which had been oppressed by the 
House of Austria. He soon attracted a crowd of partisans, and 
made himself master of a great part of the kingdom. The 
Transylvanians chose him for their prince (1704 ;) and the States 
of Hungary, who had united for the re-establishment of their 
laws and immunities, declared him their chief, with the title of 
Duke, and a senate of twenty-five persons. Louis XIV. sent 
his envoy, the Marquis Dessalleurs, to congratulate him on 
his elevation ; and the Czar, Peter the Great, offered him the 
throne of Poland (1707,) in opposition to Stanislaus, who was 
protected by Charles XII. 

The House of Austria being engaged in the Spanish war, 
was unable for a long time to reduce the Hungarian malecon- 
tents. The repeated attempts which she had made to come to an 
accommodation with them having failed, the war was continued 
till 1711, when the Austrians, who had been victorious, com- 
pelled Ragoczi to evacuate Hungary, and retire to the frontiers 
of Poland. A treaty of pacification was then drawn up. The 
Emperor promised to grant an amnesty, and a general restitu- 
tion of goods in favour of all those who had been implicated in 
the insurrection. He came under an engagement to preserve 
inviolable the rights, liberties, and immunities of Hungary, and 
the principality of Transylvania ; to reserve all civil and mih- 
tary offices to the Hungarians ; to maintain the laws of the 
kingdom respecting religion ; and as for their other grievances, 
whether political or ecclesiastical, h" consented to have them 
discussed in the approaching Diet. These articles were ap- 
proved and signed by the greater part of the malecontents, who 



334 CHAPTER vm. 

then took a new oath of allegiance to the Emperor. Ragoczi 
and his principal adherents were the only persons that remain- 
ed proscribed and attainted, havmg refused to accede to these 
articles. 

The Turkish Empire, once so formidable, had gradually fallen 
from the summit of its grandeur ; its resources were exhausted, 
and its history marked by nothing but misfortunes. The effe- 
minacy and incapacity of the Sultans, their contempt for the 
arts cultivated by the Europeans, and the evils of a govern- 
ment purely military and despotic, by degrees undermined its 
strength, and eclipsed its glory as a conquering and presiding 
power. We find the Janissaries, a lawless and undisciplined 
militia, usurping over the sovereign and the throne the same 
rights which the Praetorian guards had arrogated over the an- 
cient Roman Emperors. 

The last conquest of any importance which the Turks made 
was that of Candia, which they took from the Republic of Venice. 
The war which obtained them the possession of that island, 
lasted for twenty years. It began under the Sultan Ibrahim 
(1645,) and was continued under his successor, Mahomet IV. 
The Venetians defended the island with exemplary courage and 
intrepidity. They destroyed several of the Turkish fleets ; 
and, on different occasions, they kept the passage of the Darda- 
nelles shut against the Ottomans. At length the famous Vizier 
Achmet Kiupruli undertook the siege of the city of Candia 
(1667,) at the head of a formidable army. This siege was one 
of the most sanguinary recorded in history. The Turks lost 
above a hundred thousand men ; and it was not till after a siege 
of two years and four months that the place surrendered to 
them by a capitulation (Sept. 5, 1669,) which at the same time 
regulated the conditions of peace between the Turks and the 
Venetians. These latter, on surrendering Candia, reserved, in 
the islands and islets adjoining, three places, viz. Suda, Spina- 
longa, and Garabusa. They also retained Clissa, and some 
other places in Dalmatia and Albania, which they had seizec 
during the war. The reign of Mahomet from that time, pre- 
sented nothing but a succession of wars, of which that against 
Hungary was the most fatal to the Ottoman Empire. The 
Turks were overwhelmed by the powerful league formed 
between Austria, Poland, Russia, and the Republic of Venice. 
They experienced, as we have already noticed, a series of fatal 
disasters during that war ; and imputing these misfortunes to 
the effeminacy of their Sultan, they resolved to depose him. 
Mustapha II., the third in succession from Mahomet IV., ter- 
minated this destructive war by the peace of Carlowitz, when 



PERIOD vm. A. D. 1713—1789. 335 

the Turks lost all their possessions in Hungary, except Temeswar 
and Belgrade. They gave up to Poland the fortress of Kami- 
niec, with Podolia, and the part of the Ukraine on this side the 
Nieper, which had been ceded to them by former treaties. The 
Venetians, by their treaty with the Porte, obtained possession 
of the Morea, which they had conquered during the war ; in- 
cluding the islands of St. Maura and Leucadia, as also the for- 
tresses of Dalmatia, Knin, Sing, Ciclut, Gabella, Castlenuovo, 
and Risano. Finally, the Porte renounced the tribute which 
Venice had formerly paid for the isle of Zante ; and the Repub- 
lic of Ragusa was guaranteed in its independence, with respect 
to the Venetians. 



CHAPTER IX. 

PERIOD VIII. 

From the Peace of Utrecht to the French Revolution, a. d 

1713—1789. 

[During the wars of the preceding period, arts and letters 
had made extraordinary progress ; especially in France, where 
they seemed to have reached the highest degree of perfection 
to which the limited genius of man can carry them. The age 
of Louis XIV. revived, and almost equalled those master-pieces 
which Greece had produced under Pericles, Rome under Au- 
gustus, and Italy under the patronage of the Medici. This 
was the classical era of French literature. The grandeur 
which reigned at the court of that monarch, and the glory which 
his vast exploits had reflected on the nation, inspired authors 
with a noble enthusiasm ; the public taste was refined by imi- 
tating the models of antiquity ; and this preserved the French 
writers from those extravagancies which some other nations 
have mistaken for the standard of genius. Their language, 
polished by the Academy according to fixed rules, the first and 
most fundamental of which condemns every thing that does 
not tend to unite elegance with perspicuity, became the general 
medium of communication among the different nations in the 
civilized world ; and this literary conquest which France made 
over the minds of other nations, is more glorious, and has 
proved more advantageous to her, than that universal dominion 
to which Louis XIV. is said to have aspired. 

In the period on which we are now entering, men of genius 
and talents, though they did not neglect the Belles-Lettres, 
devoted themselves chiefly to those sciences, and that kind of 



336 CHAPTER IX. 

learning, the study of which has been diffused over all classes 
of society. Several branches of mathematics and natural philo- 
sophy, assumed a form entirely new; the knowledge of the 
ancient classics, which, till then, had been studied chiefly for the 
formation of taste, became a branch of common education, and 
gave birth to a variety of profound and useful researches. Geo- 
metry, astronomy, mechanics, and navigation, were brought to 
great perfection, by the rivalry among the different scientific 
academies in Europe. Natural Philosophy discovered many of 
the laws and phenomena of nature. Chemistry rose from the 
rank of an obscure art, and put on the garb of an attractive 
science. Natural History, enriched by the discoveries of learned 
travellers, was divested of those fables and chimeras which 
ignorance had attributed to her. History, supported by the 
auxiliary sciences of Geography and Chronology', became a 
branch of general philosophy. 

The equilibrium among the different States, disturbed by the am- 
bition of Louis XIV., had been confirmed by the peace of Utrecht, 
which lasted during twenty-four years without any great altera 
tion. Nevertheless, in the political transactions which took place 
at this time, England enjoyed a preponderance which had been 
growing gradually since she had ceased to be the theatre of civil 
discord. The glory which she had acquired by the success of 
her arms in the Spanish Avars, and the important advantages 
which the treaty of Utrecht had procured her, both in Europe 
and America, augmented her political power, and gave her an 
influence in general affairs which she never had enjoyed before. 
That nation carried their commerce and their marine to an extent 
which could not fail to alarm the other commercial and maritime 
states, and make them perceive that, if the care of their own trade 
and independence made it necessary to maintain a system of 
equilibrium on the Continent, it was equally important for their 
prosperity that bounds should be set to the monopolizing power 
of England. This gave rise at first to a new kind of rivalry be- 
tween France and England — a rivalry whose effects were more 
particularly manifested after the middle of the eighteenth cen- 
tury, and which occasioned an intimate alliance among the 
branches of the House of Bourbon. At a later date, and in con- 
sequence of the principles which the English professed as to the 
commerce of neutral states, the powers of the North leagued 
themselves against that universal dominion which they were 
accused of wishing to usurp over the sea. In the Ninth Period, 
we shall even see the whole Continent for a short time turned 
against that nation — the only one that has been able to preserve 
her commerce and her independence. 



PERIOD viii. A. D, 1713—1789. 337 

This preponderance of England is the first change which the 
political system of Europe experienced in the eighteenth century. 
The second took place in the North. Till that time, the northeiii 
countries of Europe had never, except transiently, had any poli- 
tical connexions with the South. Russia, separated by the 
possessions of Sweden on the coasts of the Baltic, had belonged 
rather to Asia than to our quarter of the world. Poland, fallen 
from her ancient greatness, had sunk into a state of anarchy and 
exhaustion. Denmark and Sweden were disputing the command 
of the Baltic, and had no other influence on the politics of the 
South than that which Sweden had acquired by the personal 
qualities of some of her kings. The great war of the North, 
which broke out at the commencement of the eighteenth century, 
and the conquests of Peter the Great, v/hich extended the limits 
of his Empire as far as the Gulf of Finland, and reduced Sweden 
to a state of debility from which she has not yet recovered, 
enabled Russia not only to take a distinguished lead in the 
North, but to become an important member in the system of 
Europe. 

Meantime, the foundation of the Prussian monarchy gave rise 
to a new and intermediate power between the North and the 
South ; but that state remained within the bounds of mediocrity 
until the middle of the eighteenth century. At that time the 
genius of Frederic II. alone raised it to a pitch of greatness which 
enabled it to struggle against the superior force of its neighbours, 
but without menacing the indepewdence of other states. This 
growing power of Prussia, however, occasioned a rivalry between 
it and Austria, which for seventy years had an influence on the 
politics of Europe. It produced the extraordinary spectacle of 
an intimate alliance between two ancient rivals, th-e Houses of 
Austria and Bourbon ; and, by dividing Germany between two 
opposite systems, it paved the way for the dissolution of that 
Empire. Such was the third change which the polity of Europe 
experienced in course of the eighteenth century. 

The fourth change was less felt than the three others ; its 
fatal consequences did not develope themselves until the Ninth 
Period. For the first time within the last three centuries, the 
sovereigns of Europe ventured to break treaties and to violate 
engagements, to declare war and undertake conquests, without 
alleging any other motives than reasons of convenience, and the 
ambition of aggrandizement. Thus the basis of the equilibrium 
system, the inviolability of possessions honourably acquired, was 
sapped, and the downfall of the whole system prepared. The 
events of the wars for the succession of Austria, furmshed the 
first examples of this contempt for treaties ; they were renewed 

22 



338 CHAPTER IX. 

in an alarming manner on the partition of Poland, and by the 
attempts which the Emperor Joseph made to seize Bavaria. The 
act of iniquity committed against Poland was often cited, during 
ihe period of the French Revolution, to justify all sorts of vio- 
lence and usurpation ; and it was followed by a long train of 
calamities. 

Commerce continued, in the eighteenth century, to be one of 
the principal objects that occupied the Cabinets of Europe. The 
mercantile system was brought to great perfection, and became, 
with most nations, the basis of their administration. The mari- 
time powers turned all their attention, and bestowed the greatest 
care, on their colonies, the number and wealth of which were 
augmented by new establishments and better regulations. In 
imitation of Louis XIV., most of the states kept up numerous 
standing armies ; a practice which they even carried to excess. 
The influence of England in Continental affairs was increased ; 
as she had no occasion to augment her own army in proportion 
to that of other kingdoms, she was able to furnish them with 
those suppUes which were necessary to carry on their wars. 
Besides, since the time of Frederic II., or about the year 1740, 
tactics, and the military art in general, had reached a degree of 
perfection which seemed scarcely to admit of further improve- 
ment. Finally, the financial system of several states experienced 
a revolution, by the invention of public funds for the payment of 
national debts ; especially that instituted by Mr. Pitt, called the 
Sinking Fund.] 

The extraordinary efforts which the powers of Europe had 
made during the last century, for maintaining the equilibrium 
of the Continent against the ambitious designs of France and 
Sweden, brought on a long period of tranquillity, which gave 
these nations an opportunity of encouraging arts, industry and 
commerce, and thereby repairing the evils which the long and 
disastrous wars had occasioned. Cabinets were attentive to 
maintain the stipulations of the treaties of Utrecht and Stock- 
holm ; and, by means of negotiations, to guard against every 
hing that might rekindle a new general war. The good under- 
standing that subsisted between France and Great Britain during 
ine reign of George I. and the beginning of that of George II. — 
or, in other words, under the administration of Walpole, was the 
?ffect of those temporary interests that engrossed the attention 
of the two Courts — the one being under terror of the Pretender, 
and the other alarmed at the ambitious projects of Spain. 

The Duke of Orleans, Regent of France during the minority 
of Louis XV., was anxious to maintain that peace and political 
order which the late treaties had introduced ; havmg it in view 



PERIOD vm. A. D. 1713—1789. 339 

lO remedy those disorders in the finance, which Louis XIV. had 
left in so deplorable a state. ^ The King of Spain, on the other 
hand, who was desirous of reviving his rights to the crown of 
France, went into the rash schemes of Cardinal Alberoni,^ his 
prime minister, purporting to renew the war ; to reconquer those 
territories which the peace of Utrecht had dismembered from 
the Spanish monarchy ; to deprive the Duke of Orleans of the 
regency, and vest it in the King of Spain ; and to place the Pre- 
tender, son of James II., on the throne of Great Britain. 

The treaty of Utrecht, although it had tranquillized a great 
part of Europe, was nevertheless defective, in as far as it had 
not reconciled the Emperor and the King of Spain, the two prin- 
cipal claimants to the Spanish succession. The Emperor 
Charles VI. did not recognise Philip V. in his quality of King 
of Spain ; and Philip, in his turn, refused to acquiesce in those 
partitions of the Spanish monarchy, which the treaty of Utrecht 
had stipulated in favour of the Emperor. To defeat the projects 
and secret intrigues of the Spanish minister, the Duke of Or- 
leans thought of courting an alliance with England, as being 
the power most particularly interested in maintaining the treaty 
of Utrecht, the fundamental articles of which had been dictated 
by herself. That alliance, into which the United Provinces also 
entered, was concluded at the Hague (Jan. 4, 1717.) The arti- 
cles of the treaty of Utrecht, those especially which related to 
the succession of the tw^o crowns, were there renewed ; and the 
Regent, in complaisance to the King of England, agreed to 
banish the Pretender from France, and to admit British com- 
missaries into Dunkirk to superintend that port. 

Cardinal Alberoni, without being in the least disconcerted by 
the Triple Alliance, persisted in his design of recommencing the 
war. No sooner had he recruited the Spanish forces, and 
equipped an expedition, than he attacked Sardinia, which he 
took from the Emperor. This conquest was followed by that 
of Sicily, which the Spaniards took from the Duke of Savoy 
(1718.) 

France and England, indignant at the infraction of a treaty 
which they regarded as their own work, immediately concluded 
with the Emperor, at London (Aug. 2, 1718,) the famous Quad- 
ruple Alliance, which contained the plan of a treaty of peace, to 
be made between the Emperor, the King of Spain, and the Duke 
of Savoy. The allied powers engaged to obtain the consent of 
the parties interested in this proposal, and in case of refusal, to 
compel them by force of arms. The Emperor v/as to renounce 
his right to the Spanish crown, and to acknowledge Philip V. 
as the legitimate King of Spain, in consideration of his renoun- 



340 CHAPTER IX. 

cing the provinces of Italy and the Netherlands, which the ireaty 
of Utrecht and the quadruple alliance adjudged to the Empernr. 
The Duke of Savoy w^as to cede Sicily to Austria, receiving 
Sardinia in exchange, which the King of Spain was to give up. 
The right of reversion to the crown of Spain was translerred 
from Sicily to Sardinia. That treaty likewise granted to Don 
Carlos, eldest son of Philip V., by his second marriage, the even- 
tual reversion and investiture of the dutchies of Parma and Pla- 
centia, as Avell as the grand dutchy of Tuscany, on condition ot 
holding them as fiefs-male of the Emperor and the Empire, aftei 
the decease of the last male issue of the families of Farnese and 
Medici, who were then in possession ; and the better to secure 
this double succession to the Infante, they agreed to introduce a 
body of six thousand Swiss into the two dutchies, to be quartered 
in Leghorn, Porto-Ferrajo, Parma, and Placentia. The con- 
tracting pow^ers undertook to guarantee the payment of these 
troops. 

The Duke of Savoy did not hesitate to subscribe to the condi- 
tions of the quadruple alliance ; but it was otherwise with the 
King of Spain, who persisted in his refusal ; when France and 
England declared war against him. The French invaded the 
provinces of Guipuscoa and Catalonia, while the English seized 
Gallicia and the port of Vigo. These vigorous proceedings 
shook the resolutions of the King of Spain. He signed the 
quadruple alliance, and banished the Cardinal Alberoni from his 
court, the adviser of those measures of which the allies com- 
plained. The Spanish troops then evacuated Sicily and Sardi- 
nia, when the Emperor took possession of the former, and Victor 
Amadeus, Duke of Savoy, of the latter. 

The war to all appearance was at an end ; peace, howeA'er, 
was far from being concluded, and there still remained many 
difficulties to settle between the Emperor, the King of Spain, 
and the Duke of Savoy. To accomplish this, and conclude a 
definitive treaty between these three powers, a Congress was 
summoned at Cambray, which was to open in 1721, under the 
mediation of France and England; but some disputes which 
arose regarding certain preliminary articles, retarded their meet- 
ing for several years. Their first and principal object was to 
effect an exchange of the acts of mutual renunciation between 
the Emperor and the King of Spain, as stipulated by the treaty 
of the quadruple alliance. The Emperor, who was reluctant to 
abandon his claims to the Spanish monarchy, started difficulties 
as to the form of these renunciations. He demanded that Phi- 
lip's renunciation of the provinces of Italy and the Netherlands, 
ahould be confirmed by the Spanish Cortes. Philip demanded. 



PKRIOD VIII. A. D. 1713 1789. 



341 



in his turn, that the renunciation of the Emperor with regard to 
Spain, should be ratified by the States of the Empire. To get 
clear of this difficulty, France and England agreed, by a special 
compact, signed at Paris (Sept. 27, 1721,) that the renunciations 
of both princes, however defective they might be, should be held 
valid under the guaranty of the two mediating powers. 

Scarcely Avas this difficulty settled, when another presented 
itself, much more embarrassing. This related to the Company 
of Ostend, which the Emperor had instituted, and to which, by 
charter signed at Vienna (Dec. 19, 1722,) he had granted, for 
thirty years, the exclusive privilege of trading to the East and 
West Indies, and the coasts of Africa. That establishment set 
the maritime powers at variance with the Emperor ; especially 
the Dutch, who regarded it as prejudicial to their Indian com- 
merce. They maintained, that according to the treaty of Mun- 
ster, confirmed by the twenty-sixth article of the Barrier Treaty 
(1715,) the trade of the Spaniards with the East Indies was to 
remain as it was at that time. 

Nothing in these preliminary discussions met with so much 
opposition as the grant of the eventual reversion and investiture 
of Tuscany, Parma, and Placentia, which the Emperor had en- 
gaged, by the Quadruple Alliance, to give to Don Carlos, the 
Infante of Spain. The Duke of Parma, the Pope, and the Grand 
Duke of Tuscany joined in opposition to it. Anthony, the last 
Duke of Parma and Placentia, of the House of Farnese, de- 
manded that the Emperor should never, during his life, exercise 
over the dutchy of Parma, the territorial rights established by 
the treaty of the Quadruple Alliance. The Pope also protested 
loudly against that clause of the treaty which deprived him of 
the rights of superiority over Parma and Placentia, which his 
predecessors had enjoyed for several centuries. As for the 
Grand Duke of Tuscany, John Gaston, the lust of the Medici, he 
maintained, that as his dutchy neld of God only, he could never 
permit that it should be declared a fief of the Empire nor recog- 
nise the Infante of Spain as heir of his estates, to the prejudice 
of his sister's rights, the widow of the Elector Palatine. 

Charles VI. without stopping at these objections, laid the 
business of these investitures before the Diet of Ratisbon ; and, 
after having obtained their consent, he caused copies to be made 
of the letters of reversion and investiture in favour of Don Carlos 
and his heirs-male. These havino" been presented to the Con- 
gress, the King of Spain refused to receive them ; alleging the 
protests of the Pope, and the Grand Duke of Tuscany ; nor 
would he agree to them, except on condition of an act of guaranty 
on the part of the mediating powers. All these difficulties being 



342 CHAPTER IX. 

settled, and the preliminaries closed, they at length proceeded 
with the conferences at Cambray (April 1724,) for the conclu- 
sion of a definitive peace between the Emperor, the King of 
Spain, and the Duke of Savoy. Every thing seeined arrived 
at an amicable termination, when some differences arose between 
the commissioners of the Emperor and those of the mediating 
powers, which occasioned new interruptions. 

Meantime, the Duke of Bourbon, who had succeeded the Duke 
of Orleans in the ministry, sent back to Spain the Infanta Maria, 
daughter of Philip V., who had been educated at the court of 
France, as the intended spouse of Louis XV. This event broke 
I ! up the Congress. Philip V., greatly offended, recalled his 
, I ministers from Cambray. Baron Ripperda, ^ whom he had sent 
j I as envoy to the Imperial Court put an end to the differences be- 
I i tween these two powers, in despite of the mediation of France. 
i In consequence, a special treaty was concluded at Vienna be- 
\ tween the Emperor and the King of Spain (April 30, 1725.) 
This treaty renewed the renunciation of Philip V. to the pro- 
vinces of Italy and the Netherlands, as well as that of the Em- 
peror to Spain and the Indies. The eventual investiture of the 
dutchies of Parma and Placentia, and that of the grand dutchy 
of Tuscany, were also confirmed. The only new clause con- 
tained in the treaty, was that by which the King of Spain under- 
took to guarantee the famous Pragmatic Sanction of Charles VI., 
which secured to the daughter of that prince the succession of 
all his estates. It was chiefly on this account that Philip V. 
became reconciled to the Court of Vienna. 

The peace of Vienna was accompanied by a defensive alliance 
between the Emperor and the King of Spain. Among other 
clauses, one was that the Emperor should interpose to obtain 
for the King of Spain the restitution of Gibraltar and the island 
of Minorca ; while Philip, on his side, granted to the shipping 
of the Emperor and his subjects free entrance into his ports, and 
all immunities and prerogatives which were enjoyed by the 
nations in the strictest commercial connexions with Spain. 
These clauses alarmed England and Holland ; and the intimacy 
which had been established .between the Courts of Vienna and 
Madrid attracted more particularly the attention of the Duke of 
Bourbon, who dreaded the resentment of the King of Spain, as 
he had advised the return of the Infanta. To prevent any such 
consequences, he set on foot a league with England and Prus- 
sia, capable of counteracting that of Vienna, which was concluded 
at Herrenhausen, near Hanover (Sept. 3, 1725,) and is known 
by the name of the Alliance of Haiiover. 

All Europe was divided between these two alliances. Hoi- 



PERIOD VIII. A. D. 1713 1789. 



343 



land, Sweden, and Denmark acceded to tne alliance of Hanover. 
Catherine I. of Russia, and the principal Catholic States of the 
Empire joined that of Vienna. The Emperor even succeeded 
in detaching the King of Prussia from the alliance of Hanover 
to join his own. Europe seemed then on the eve of a general 
war ; the ambassadors to the different courts were recalled. The 
English sent a numerous and powerful fleet to America, the 
Mediterranean, and the Baltic ; while the Spaniards commenced 
hostilities, by laying siege to Gibraltar. The death of the Em- 
press of Russia (May 17, 1727,) however, caused a change in 
the disposition of the Northern powers. The Emperor, seeing 
he could no longer reckon on the assistance of Russia, showed 
no anxiety to second the efforts of the Spaniards ; but what 
chiefly contributed to the maintenance of peace was, that neither 
France nor England was desirous of war. 

In this situation of affairs, the Pope interposed his mediation ; 
and a new preliminary treaty was signed at Paris, which or • 
dained that there should be an armistice for seven years ; that 
the Company of Ostend should be suspended for the same time : 
and that a neAV General Congress should be held at Aix-la- 
Chapelle. 

This congress was first transferred to Cambray, and thence tc 
Soissons, where it was opened in 1728. Ambassadors from 
almost all the Courts of Europe appeared there ; and they ex- 
pected, with some reason, a happy conclusion of the business ; 
as most of the difficulties which had embarrassed the Congress 
of Cambray were settled by the peace of Vienna, and as the only 
subject for deliberation was to settle the succession of Parma and 
Tuscany. But the Emperor having demanded that the Austrian 
Pragmatic Sanction should be adopted as the basis of the arrange- 
ments for establishing the peace of Soissons, that incident be- 
came the subject of new disputes. Cardinal Fleury, then prime 
minister of France, having strongly opposed this claim of the 
Court of Vienna, the Emperor, in his turn, threw obstacles in 
the way of the negotiation at Soissons. This inclined the Car- 
dinal to make overtures to the Court of Madrid, with whom he 
concerted a secret negotiation, in which he also found means to 
associate England. 

This gave rise to a treaty of peace, union, and offensive al- 
liance, which was signed at Seville between France, Spain, and 
England (November 9, 1729.) These powers engaged to gua- 
rantee the succession of Parma and Tuscany in favour of the- 
Infante Don Carlos ; and to effect this, they resolved to substitute 
six thousand Spanish troops in the Swiss garrisons, named by 
the Quadruple Alliance. The Dutch acceded to that treaty, in 



344 CHAPTER IX. 

consideration of the engagement whicli the contracting powers 
came under to give them entire satisfaction with respect to the 
Company of Ostend. 

The Emperor, finding the treaty of Seville concluded jvith- 
out his co-operation, was apprehensive of having failed in his 
principal aim, viz. the adoption of the Austrian Pragmatic Sanc- 
tion. He was indignant that the allies at Seville should pre- 
tend to lay down the law to him touching the abolition of the 
Ostend Company, and the introduction of Spanish troops into 
Italy. Accordingly, being determined not to comply, he imme- 
diately broke off all relationship with the Court of Spain ; he 
recalled his ambassador, and took measures to prevent the Spa- 
nish troops from taking possession of Italy. The last Duke of 
Parma, Anthony Farnese, being dead (1731,) he took posses- 
sion of his dutchy by force of arms. 

At length, to terminate all these differences, the King of Eng- 
land, in concert with the States-General, opened a negotiation 
with the Emperor ; the result of which was a treaty of alliance, 
signed at Vienna, between him, England and Holland (March 
16, 1731.) In virtue of that treaty, the three contracting pow- 
ers mutually guaranteed their estates, rights and possessions ; 
England and Holland, more especially, engaged to guarantee 
the Austrian Pragmatic Sanction ; and the Emperor, on his 
side, consented to the introduction of Spanish troops into Italy, 
and to the suppression of the Company of Ostend ; he even 
agreed that the Netherlands should never carry on trade with 
the Indies, either by the Ostend Company, or any other. 

In consequence of this treaty, which was approved by the 
States-General, Don Carlos took possession of Parma and Pla- 
centia ; and the Grand Duke of Tuscany also recognised him 
as his successor. Thus terminated these long disputes about 
the Spanish Succession, after having agitated the greater part 
of Europe for upwards of thirty years. 

In the midst of these contentions, a war had arisen between 
the Porte and the Republic of Venice ; in which the Emperor 
Charles VI. was also implicated. The Turks were desirous of 
recovering the Morea, which they had been obliged to abandon 
to the Venetians at the peace of Carlowitz ; but instead of at- 
tacking that Republic, while the Emperor Avas engaged with the 
French war, and unable to render it assistance, they waited till 
the conclusion of the treaties of Utrecht, Rastadt, and Baden, 
before they declared hostilities. The pretexts which the Turks 
made to justify this rupture were extremely frivolous ; but they 
knew well that the Venetians, who had lived in the most com- 
plete security since the peace of Carlowitz, had neglected to re- 



PERioP VIII. A. D. 1713—1789. 345 

pair the fortifications which had been destroyed in the war, and 
that it would be easy for them to reconquer them. 

In fact, during the campaign of 1715, the Grand Vizier not. 
only recovered the Morea, he even dispossessed the Venetians 
of the places which they still retained in the Isle of Candia ; 
and, ai the commencement of the following campaign, they laid 
>Aege to the town of Corfu. Charles VI. thought he was bound, 
as the guarantee of the peace of Carlowitz, to espouse the 
(.•ause of the Venetians ; he declared war against the Porte, and 
his example was followed by the Pope and the King of Spain, 
who united their fleets to those of the Republic. The Turks 
were defeated in several engagements, and obliged to raise the 
siege of Corfu, after sacrificing a great many lives. 

The campaigns of 1716 and 1717 in Hungary, were trium- 
phant for the armies of the Emperor ; Prince Eugene gained a 
brilliant victory over the Grand Vizier, near Peterwaradin (Au- 
gust 5th,) which enabled him to invest Temeswar, which he 
carried after a siege of six months, and thus completed the 
conquest of Hungary. To crown his glory, that great captain 
next undertook the siege of Belgrade, regarded by the Turks 
as the principal bulwark of their Empire. The Grand Vizier 
marched to the relief of the place, at the head of a formidable 
army. He encamped before Belgrade, and enclosed the Impe- 
rial army within a semicircle, reaching from the Danube to the 
Save. Prince Eugene had then no other alternative than to 
leave his camp, and attack the Turks in their intrenchments. 
He took his measures which such address, that, in spite of the 
great superiority of the Turks, he forced them back to their 
camp, and put them completely to rout (Aug. 16, 1717.) 

This victory was followed by the reduction of Belgrade, and 
several other places on the Save and the Danube. The Porte 
began to wish for peace ; and as the Emperor, who had just been 
attacked in Italy by the Spaniards, was equally desirous to put 
an end to the war, both parties agreed to accept the mediation 
of England and Holland. A congress was opened at Passaro- 
witz, a small town in Servia, near the mouth of the Morau. A 
peace was there concluded between the three belligerent powers 
(July 21, 1718,) on the basis of the Uti possidetis. The Empe- 
ror retained Temeswar, Orsova, Belgrade, and the part of Wal- 
lachia lying on this side of the river Aluta ; as also Servia, ac- 
cording to the limits determined by the treaty, and both banks 
of the Save, from the Drino to the Unna. The Venetians lost 
the Morea, but they retained several places in Herzegovina, 
Dalmatia, and Albania, which they had conquered during the 
war. The Porte restored to them the Island of Cerigo in ihp 
Archipelago. 



346 CHAPTER IX. 

The success of Charles VI. in this war procured some new 
advantages to his house, on the part of the States of Hungary. 
The Diet of 1687, in vesting the hereditary right of that king- 
dctn in the Emperor Leopold I., had restricted that right, solely 
to the male descendants of the House of Austria ; and Charles 
VI., on his accession to the throne, had acknowledged the elec- 
tive right of the States, in case he should happen to die without 
leaving any male offspring. This prince, finding afterwards 
that he had no other children left than the two daughters by his 
marriage with Elizabeth princess of Brunswick, and being desi- 
rous of securing to them the succession of Hungary as well as 
his other estates, assembled a Diet at Presburg (1722,) and there 
engaged the States of the kingdom to extend the right of suc- 
cession to females, according to the order which he had estab- 
lished in the Austrian Pragmatic Sanction, and published some 
years before. 

A revolution happened in the government of Sweden imme- 
diately after the death of Charles XII., and before the great war 
of the North was quite ended. Reduced to a state of great dis- 
tress by the folly, ambition, and inflexible obstinacy of that prince, 
Sweden saw her finest provinces occupied by the enemy, her 
commerce annihilated, her armies and her fleets destroyed. 
They attributed these disasters chiefly to the absolute power of 
Charles XII., and the abuse he had made of it. The only reme- 
dy for so many evils, they conceived, was to abolish a power 
which had become so pernicious to the State. As Charles had 
never been married, the throne, according to the hereditary law 
established in Sweden, passed to the son of the dutchess of Hol- 
stein-Gottorp, eldest sister of Charles ; but the Senate of Sweden 
preferred to him the princess Ulrica Eleonora, younger sister of 
the late king; because of the declaration she had made, renoun- 
cing all absolute power, and consenting to hold the crown only 
by the free election of the States of the kingdom. The States, 
in an assembly held at Stockholm, in the beginning of 1719, de 
Glared the throne vacant, and then proceeded to the election oi 
the princess. With their act of election, they presented her with 
a new form of government, and an act known by the name of 
the Royal Assurance, which imposed new limitations on the 
royal authority. The princess signed these acts (February 21,) 
and the States declared that whoever should attempt to restore 
absolute power, should be considered as a traitor to his country. 

The government was intrusted to the queen conjunctly with 
the Senate ; while the legislative power Avas reserved to the 
States, to meet regularly every three years. The queen had 
the right of proposing bills or ordinances : but before these 



PERIOD vriii. A. D. 1713—1789. 347 

could have the force of law, they Avere to be submitted to the 
examination of the States, without whose consent war was never 
to be proclaimed. As for the deliberations of the Senate, it was 
resolved, that they should be decided by a plurality of suffrages, 
that the queen should have two votes, and a casting vote be- 
sides. Thus, the chief power was vested in the hands of the 
Senate, the members of which resumed their ancient title of 
Senators of the kingdom, instead of that of Counsellors to the 
King, which had been bestowed on them at the revolution of 
1680. Ulrica Eleonora afterwards resigned the crown to her 
husband prince Frederic of Hesse-Cassel. The States, in their 
election of that prince (May 22, 1720,) ordained that the Queen, 
in case she should survive her husband, should be reinstated in 
her rights, and resume the crown, without the necessity of a new 
deliberation of the States. Frederic, by the Royal Assurance, 
and the form of government which he signed, agreed to certain 
new modifications of the royal power, especially concerning ap- 
pointments to places of trust. By these different stipulations, 
and the changes which took place in consequence, the power of 
the Swedish kings was gradually reduced to very narrow limits. 
It was so much the more easy to make encroachments on the 
royal power, as the King, by a radical defect in the new form 
of government, had no constitutional means of preserving the 
little authority that was left him. 

The death of Augustus II. of Poland, occasioned new dis- 
turbances, which passed from the North to the South of Europe 
and brought about great changes in Italy. Louis XV. took the 
opportunity of that event to replace Stanislaus on the throne of 
Poland, who was his father-in-law, and the former proteg^ of 
Charles XII. The Primate, and the greater part of the Polish 
nobility being in the interest of that prince, he was consequently 
elected (Sept. 12, 1733.) 

Anne Iwanowna, dutchess-dowager of Courland, and niece of 
Peter the Great, had just ascended the throne of Russia ; having 
succeeded Peter II. (June 20, 1730,) who was cut off in the 
flower of his age without leaving any progeny. The grandees, 
in conferring the crown on Anne, had limited her power by a 
capitulation which they made her sign at Mittau, but which she 
cancelled immediately on her arrival at Moscow. That princess, 
dreading the influence of France in Poland, in case of a war 
between Russia and the Porte, espoused the interests of Augus- 
tus III., Elector of Saxony, and son of the late King, whom she 
wished to place on the Polish throne. Part of the Polish nobility, 
withdrawing from the field of election, and supported by a Rus- 
sian army, proclaimed that prince, in opposition to Stanislaus, 
ihe protege of France. 



348 CHAPTER IX. 

The Russians, reinforced by the Saxon troops, seized Warsa-vi' 
and compelled Stanislaus to retire to Dantzic, where he was be- 
sieged by a Russian army, under command of Field-Marshal 
Munich, and obliged to seek safety in flight. Louis XV. wish- 
ing to avenge this injury offered to his father-in-law, and not 
being in a condition to attack Russia, resolved to declare war 
against the Emperor ; on the ground that he had marched an 
army to the frontiers of Poland., for supporting the election of 
the Saxon prince. 

Spain and Sardinia espoused the cause of Stanislaus, which 
seemed to them to be the cause of Kings in general ; while the 
Emperor saw himself abandoned by England and Holland, 
whose assistance he thought he might claim, in virtue of the 
guarantee which the treaty of Vienna had stipulated in his fa- 
vour. But these powers judged it more for their interests to 
preserve strict neutrality in this war, on the assurance which 
France had given the States-General, not to make the Austrian 
Netherlands the theatre of hostilities. The French commenced 
operations by directing the Count de Belleisle to seize Lorraine, 
the sovereign of which, Francis Stephen, son of Duke Leopold 
was to have married Maria Theresa, eldest daughter of the Em- 
peror Charles VL About the same time. Marshal Berwick 
passed the Rhine at the head of the French army, and reduced 
the fortress of Kehl. By thus attacking a fortress of the Em- 
pire, France gave the Emperor a pretext for engaging the Ger-, 
manic Body in his quarrel. In fact, he declared war against 
France and her allies ; which induced the French to seize seve- 
ral places on the Moselle, and to reduce the fortress of Philips- 
burg, at the siege of which, Marshal Berwick was slain (June 
I2,l734.) 

The principal scene of the war then lay in Italy ; where the 
campaigns of 1734 and 1735 were most glorious for the allies. 
After the two victories which they had gained over the Impe- 
rialists near Parma (June 29,) and Guastalla (Sept. 17,) they 
made themselves master of all Austrian Lombardy, with the 
single exception of Mantua, which they laid under blockade. 
A Spanish army, commanded by the Duke of Montemar, ac- 
companied by the Infante Don Carlos, directed their march on 
Naples, which threw open its gates to the Spaniards. The 
victory which they gained over the Imperialists at Bitonto 
(May 25,) decided the fate of the kingdom of Naples. After 
this conquest, the Infante passed to Sicily. He soon reduced 
that island, and was crowned King of the Two Sicilies at Pa- 
lermo (July 3, 1735.) 

The Emperor, overwhelmed by so many reverses, and unablo 



1 1 



PERIOD VIII. A. D. 1713 — 1789. 



349 



to withstand the powers leagued against him, eagerly solicited 

assistance from Russia. The Empress Anne, who saw the war 

I j loiminated in Poland, and Augustus in quiet possession of the 

' I throne, despatched a body of ten thousand auxiliaries, under 

' the command of General Count de Lacy, into Germany, in thf 

•spring of the year 1735. These troops, the first Russians who 

had appeared in that country, joined the Imperial army on the 

j I Rhine, which was commanded by Prince Eugene. That Gene- 

i I ral, however, did not succeed in his design of transferring the 

seat of war to Lorraine. 

Matters were in this situation, when the maritime powers in- 
terposed their good offices for restoring peace between the Em- 
peror and the States leagued against him. Cardinal Fleury, 
perceiving that their mediation was not agreeable to the Impe- 
rial Court, took the resolution of concerting a secret negotia- 
tion with the Emperor, the result of which was a treaty of pre- 
liminaries ; although much deliberation Avas necessary before 
coming to the conclusion of a definitive peace. This Avas at 
length signed at Vienna, between France, the Emperor, and the 
Empire, on the 8th of November 1738. The former treaties of 
Westphalia, Nimeguen, Ryswick, Utrecht, and the Quadruple 
Alliance, were admitted as the basis of this treaty. Stanislaus 
renounced the throne of Poland, and retained the title only 
during his life. They gave him, by way of compensation, the 
dutchies of Lorraine and Bar, on condition that, at his death, 
they should revert with full right to France. The single coun- 
ty of Falkenstein, with its appurtenances and dependencies, 
was reserved for Francis, Duke of Lorraine. In exchange for 
the dutchy which he abdicated, that prince received the grand 
dutchy of Tuscany, whose last possessor, John Gaston, of the 
House of Medici, had just died without leaving any posterity 
(1737.) The kingdom of the Two Sicilies, with the ports of 
Tuscany, were secured to Don Carlos and his descendants, 
male and female ; and, in failure of them, to the younger bro- 
thers of that prince, and their descendants. On his part, Don 
Carlos ceded to the Emperor the dutchies of Parma and Pla- 
centia, and even renounced the rights which former treaties had 
given him over the grand dutchy of Tuscany. They restored 
to the Emperor all that had been taken from him in the pro- 
vinces of Milan and Mantua; with the reservation of the dis- 
tricts of Novara and Tortona, which he was obliged to cede to 
Charles Emanuel III., King of Sardinia, together with San- 
Fidele, Torre di Forti, Gravedo, and Campo-Maggiore ; as also 
the territorial superiority of the fiefs commonly called Langhes, 
to be held entirely as Imperial fiefs. Finally, France under- 



350 CHAPTER W. 

took, in the most authentic form, to guarantee the Pragmatic 
Sanction of the Emperor. 

The Kings of Spain and Sardinia were not satisfied with the 
conditions of this treaty. The former wished to preserve the. 
^and dutchy of Tuscany, with the dutchies of Parma and 
Placentia ; and the other had expected to obtain a larger portion 
M' Lombardy. Thus, these princes long hesitated to admit the 
articles agreed to between the courts of France and Vienna ; 
nor did they give their consent until the year 1739. 

While these disputes about the succession of Poland occupied 
a great part of Europe, a war broke out between the Turks and 
the Russians, in which Austria was also implicated. The Em- 
gress Anne of Russia, wishing to recover Azoff, and repair the 
loss which Peter the Great had sustained in his unfortunate 
campaign on the Pruth, took advantage of the war between the 
Turks and the Persians, to form an alliance Avith Khouli Khan, 
the famous conqueror of the East, who had just subverted 
the ancient dynasty of the Sophis of Persia. The incursions 
which the Tartars had made at different times into the Russian 
provinces, without the Porte thinking proper to check them, 
served as a motive for the Empress to order an expedition 
against the Turks (1735,) and to declare war against the Porte 
soon after. It was during the campaign of 1736 that Count 
Lacy made himself master of Azoff, and that Marshal Munich, 
after having forced the lines at Perekop, penetrated into the in- 
terior of the Crimea ; but having in that expedition lost many 
of his men by famine and disease, he found it impossible to 
maintain himself in that peninsula. 

The Emperor offered himself at first as a mediator between 
the belligerent powers. A conference was opened at Niemerow 
in Poland, which proved fruitless. The Russians who had just 
taken Oczakoff, emboldened by their success, were desirous to 
continue the war ; while the Emperor, without reflecting on the 
bad condition of his military strength, and the loss which he 
had sustained by the death of the celebrated prince Eugene 
(April 21, 1736,) thought only of sharing the conquest with the 
Russians. He then laid aside the character of mediator, to 
act on the defensive against the Turks ; but he had soon rea- 
son to repent of this measure. The Turks, encouraged by the 
famous Count de Bonneval, gained considerable advantages 
over the Austrians ; and in course of the campaigns of 1737 
and 1738, they dislodged them from Wallachia and Servia, re- 
took Orsova, and laid siege to the city of Belgrade in 1739. 

The Court of Vienna, in a state of great consternation, had 
recourse to the mediation of M. de Villeneuve. the French am- 



li 



Jj 



PERIOD VIII. A. D. 1713 17S9. 



351 



II 



bassador a^ Constantinople, to sue for peace with the Porte j 
Count Neipperg, who was sent by the Emperor to the Turkish 
camp before Belgrade, signed there, with too much precipita- 
tion, a treaty, under very disadvantageous terms for Austria : 
and the Empress Anne, who had intrusted the French ambas- 
sador Avith her full powers, consented also to a peace very un- 
favourable for Russia, notwithstanding the brilliant victory 
.vhich Marshal Munich had gained over the Turks in the neigh- 
bourhood of Choczim (Oct. 28, 1739,) which was followed by 
the capture of that place, and the conquest of Moldavia by the 
Russians. 

The Emperor, by that peace, ceded to the Porte, Belgrade, 
Sabatz, and Orsova, with Austrian Servia and Wallachia. The 
Danube, the Save, and the Unna, were again settled as the 
boundary between the two Empires ; and Austria preserved 
nothing but the Banat of TemesAvar, of all that had been ceded 
to her by the peace of PassaroAvitz. The Austrian merchants, 
however, Avere granted free passage into and out of the king- 
doms and provinces of the Ottoman Empire, both by sea and 
land, in their OAvn vessels, Avith the flag and letters-patent of the 
Emperor, on condition of their paying the accustomed dues. 

Russia surrendered all her conquests, and among others 
Choczim and Moldavia. The boundaries betAA-een the two Em- 
pires Avere regulated by different special agreements. The for- 
tress of Azoff was demolished ; and it was stipulated that Russia 
should not construct any neAV fortress within thirty versts of that 
place, on the one side ; nor the Porte within thirty versts, on the 
side of the Cuban. Russia Avas even interdicted from having 
and constructing fleets or other naval stores, either on the Sea 
of Azoff or the Black Sea. The Zaporog Cossacs continued 
under the dominion of Russia, which obtained also from the 
Porte the acknoAvledgment of the Imperial title. The peace be- 
tween Russia and the Porte was declared perpetual j but they 
limited that between Austria and the Porte to twenty-seven 
years. The latter was reneAved under the Empress Maria 
Theresa ; and rendered also perpetual, by an agreement which 
that princess concluded with the Porte, May 25, 1747. 

The succession to Charle« VL.the last male descendant of the 
House of Hapsburg, who died October 20th 1740, kindled a new 
general war in Europe. That prince, in the year 1713, had 
published an order of succession, known by the name of the 
Pragmatic Sanction, which decreed, that failing his lineal heirs- 
male, his own daughters should succeed in preference to those 
of his brother the Emperor Joseph I. ; and that the succession 
of his daughters should be regulated according to the order of 



352 CHAPTER IX. 

primogeniture, so that the elder should be preferred to the 
younger, and that she alone should inherit his whole estates. 
He took great pains to get this order approved by the different 
hereditary States of Austria, as well as by the daughters of his? 
brother Joseph I., and by the husbands of these princesses, the 
Electors of Saxony and Bavaria. He even obtained, by degrees, 
the sanction of all the principal powers of Europe. But though 
his external policy had been very active in securing the rights 
of his eldest daughter Maria Theresa, he neglected those mea- 
sures to which he ought rather to have directed his attention. 
The wretched state in which he left his finances and his army, 
encouraged a number of pretenders, who disputed the succession 
with that princess. 

Of these claimants, the principal was the Elector of Bavaria, 
who, as being descended from Anne of Austria, daughter of Fer- 
dinand I., advanced the claims of the females of the elder line, 
against those of the younger ; grounded on the contract of mar- 
riage between that princess and Albert V. Duke of Bavaria, as 
well as on the will of Ferdinand I. The Elector of Saxony, 
then King of Poland, although he had approved of the Prag- 
matic Sanction, claimed the succession, as being husband of the 
elder of the daughters of Joseph I., and in virtue of a compact be- 
tween the two brothers, Joseph I. and Charles VI., which provided, 
that the daughters of Joseph should, under all circumstances, be 
prefen-ed to those of Charles. 

Philip v., King of Spain, laid claim to the kingdoms of Bo- 
hemia and Hungary. He grounded his rights on an agreement 
(1617) between Philip III. of Spain and Ferdinand of Austria, 
afterwards the Emperor Ferdinand II. ; according to which 
these kingdoms were to pass to the descendants of Philip III,, 
failino- the male line of Ferdinand. A war had arisen between 
Spain and England on account of the clandestine traffic which 
the English carried on in Spanish America, under favour of the 
contrnct called the Assiento. Philip V. thought of turning these 
differences relative to the Austrian succession to his own advan- 
tage, either for drawing France into an alliance with him against 
England, or to procure for his son Don Philip a settlement in 
Italy, at the expense of the daughter of Charles VI. 

Frederic II., King of Prussia, who had just succeeded his 
father Frederic William I., judged this a favourable time for 
turning his attention to the affairs of his own kingdom, and pro- 
fitting by the troops and treasures which his father had left. 
With this view, he revived certain claims of his family tc 
several dutchies and principalities in Silesia, of which his an- 
cestors, he maintained, had been unjustly deprived by Austria 



PERIOD VIII. A. D. 1713 — 1789. 



353 



Finally, the King of Sardinia laid claim to the whole dutchy of 
Milan ; grounded on the contract of marriage between his an- 
cestor, Charles Emanuel Duke of Savoy, and the daughter of 
Philip II. of Spain. The Court of France, wishing to avail 
herself of these circumstances for humbling Austria, her ancient 
rival, set on foot a negotiation with the Elector of Bavaria, and 
engaged to procure him the Imperial crown, with a part of the^ 
territories, of which he had deprived Austria. 

An alliance was concluded between France, Spain, and the 
Elector of Bavaria, which was joined also by the Kings of Prus- 
sia, Poland, Sardinia, and the two Sicilies ; and to prevent 
Russia from affording assistance to Maria Theresa, they pre- 
vailed on Sweden to declare war against that power. The 
Court of Vienna having complained of these resolutions of the 
French Cabinet, which were directly opposed to the conditions 
of the last treaty of Vienna, Cardinal Fleury, who had been 
drawn into that war by the intrigues of M. De Belleisle, alleged 
in his own justification, that the guarantee of the Pragmatic 
Sanction, which France had undertaken by that treaty, pre- 
supposed the clause Sine prejudicio tertii; that is to say, that 
France never intended, by that guarantee, to prejudice the just 
claims of the Elector of Bavaria. 

The most active of the enemies of Maria Theresa was the 
King of Prussia, who entered Silesia in the month of December 
1740. While he was occupied in making that conquest, the 
Elector of Bavaria, reinforced by an army of French auxiliaries, 
took possession of Upper Austria ; but, instead of marching di- 
rectly upon Vienna, he turned towards Bohemia, with the inten- 
tion of conquering it. Meantime, the Electoral Diet, which was 
assembled at Frankfort, conferred the Imperial dignity on that 
prince, (Jan. 24, 1742,) who took the name of Charles VII. 
Nothing appeared then to prevent the dismemberment of the 
Austrian monarchy, according to the plan of the allied powers. 
The Elector of Bavaria was to have Bohemia, the Tyrol, and 
the provinces of Upper Austria ; the Elector of Saxony was to 
have Moravia and Upper Silesia ; and the King of Prussia the 
remainder of Silesia. As for Austrian Lombardy, it was des- 
tined for Don Philip, the Infante of Spain^ Nothing was left to 
the Queen, except the kingdom of Hungary, with Lower Aus- 
tria, the Dutchies of Carinthia, Stiria and Carniola, and the 
Belgic Provinces. In the midst of these imminent dangers, 
Maria Theresa displayed a courage beyond her age and sex. 
Aided by the supplies of money which England and Holland 
furnished her, and by the generous efforts which the Hungarian 
nation made in her favour, she succeeded^ in calming the storm 

23. 



354 CHAPTER IX. 

repulsing the enemy with vigour, and dissolving the grand 
league Avhich had been formed against her. 

The King of Prussia, in consequence of the two victories 
which he gained at Molwitz (April 10, 1741,) and Czaslau (May 
17, 1742,) had succeeded in conquering Silesia, Moravia, and 
part of Bohemia. It was of importance for the Queen to get rid 
of so formidable an enemy. The King of Great Britain having 
interposed, certain preliminaries were signed at Breslau, which 
were followed by a definitive peace, concluded at Berlin (July 
28, 1742.) The Queen, by this treaty, gave up to the King of 
Prussia Silesia and the Comte of Glatz, excepting the princi- 
pality of Teschen, and part of the principalities of Trappau. 
Jagerndorf, and Neisse. The example of Prussia was soon fol- 
lowed by the King of Poland. This Prince, alarmed at the sud- 
den increase of the Prussian power, not only acceded to the 
treaty of Berlin, but even formed an alliance with the Queen 
against Prussia. 

The King of Sardinia, who dreaded the preponderance of the 
Bourbons in Italy, likewise abandoned the grand alliance, and 
attached himself to the Queen's interests, by a compact which 
was signed at Turin. The French and Spaniards then turned 
their arms against that Prince ; and while the King of the two 
Sicilies joined his forces with the Spaniards, an English squad- 
ron appeared before Naples, threatened to bombard the city, and 
compelled the King to recall his troops from Lombardy, and re- 
main neutral. This was not the only piece of service which 
George II. rende'-ed the young Queen. Being one of the 
powers that guaranteed the Pragmatic Sanction, he sent to her 
aid an army composed of English, Hanoverians, and Hessians. 
This, known by the name of the Pragmatic Army, fought and 
defeated the French at Dettingen (June 27, 1743.) They were 
afterwards reinforced by a body of troops which the States- 
General sent, in fulfilment of the engagement Avhich they had 
contracted with the Court of Vienna. Lastly, that prince, in order 
to attach the King of Sardinia more closely to the interests of 
Austria, set on foot a treaty at Worms, by which the Queen 
ceded to the King of Sardinia the territory of Pavia, between 
the Po and the Tesino, part of the dutchy of Placentia, and the 
district of Anghiera, with the rights which they claimed to the 
marquisate of Finale. The King, on his part, abandoned all 
claims to the Milanois ; and engaged to support an army of 
40,000 men for the service of the Queen, in consideration of the 
supplies which England promised to pay him. 

This soon changed the aspect of affairs. The Queen recon- 
quered Austria and Bohemia. She expelled the French from 



I 



I 



PEKioD vm. A. D. 1713 — 1789. 355 

Bavaria, and drove them even beyond the Rhine The Emperor 
Charles VII. vas obliged to transfer his residence from Munich 
to Frankfort on the Maine. France, who had never acted till 
then but as the ally of the Elector of Bavaria, resolved, m con- 
sequence of these events, formally to declare war against the 
Queen and the King of Great Britain (March 15, 1744.) The 
King of the Two Sicilies broke his neutrality, and again joined 
his troops with the Spanish army, who were acting against the 
Queen and her ally the King of Sardinia. The war was now 
carried on with fresh vigour. Louis XV. attacked the Austrian 
Netherlands in person, and negotiated a treaty of Union, at 
Frankfort, between the Emperor, and several principal States 
of the Empire. By this treaty it was stipulated, that the allied 
princes should unite their forces, and constrain the Queen to 
acknowledge the Emperor Charles VII., and reinstate him in 
his hereditary dominions. 

It was in consequence of this treaty, that the King of Prussia 
again commenced the war, and made an attack on Bohemia. 
Prince Charles of Lorraine, who had invaded Alsace, at the 
head of an Austrian army, was obliged to repass the Rhine, and 
march to the relief of that kingdom. The French penetrated 
into Germany, and while Louis XV. laid siege to Friburg in 
Brisgaw, General Seckendorf, who commanded the Imperial 
army, reconquered Bavaria. Charles VII., who was then re- 
stored to his estates, returned to Munich. 

During these transactions, an unforeseen event happened, 
which changed the state of affairs. The Emperor died at the 
early age of forty-seven (Jan. 20, 1745,) and his son Maximilian 
Joseph II., used all expedition to make up matters with the 
Queen. By the special treaty, which he concluded with her at 
Fuessen (April 22, 1745,) he renounced the claims which his 
father had made to the succession of Charles VI. He again 
signed the Pragmatic Sanction, satisfied with being maintained 
in the possession of his patrimonial estates. The French had 
in vain endeavoured to prevent the election of the Grand Duke 
of Tuscany to the Imperial throne, who had been associated 
with his wife, Maria Theresa, in the government of her heredi- 
tary dominions. That prince, however, was elected at Frank- 
fort, under the protection of the Austrian and Pragmatic armies. 

An alliance had been concluded at Warsaw between Maria 
Theresa, Poland, England, and Holland (Jan. 8, 1745.) Au- 
gustus III. had engaged, as Elector of Saxony, to despatch an 
army of thirty thousand men to the Queen's assistance, in con- 
sideration of the subsidies which England and Holland had pro- 
mised to pay him. That army being joined by the Austrians, 



356 CHAPTER IX 

bad advanced into Silesia, where they sustained a total defea* 
near Hohenfriedberg (June 4.) The victorious King of Prussia 
returned to Bphemia, and there defeated the allies a second 
time, near Sorr, in the Circle of Konigratz (Sept. 30.) He then 
attacked Saxony, in order to compel the Queen to make pea^e. 
by harassmg the Elector her ally. The victory, which he gain- 
ed over the Saxons at Kesselsdorf (Dec. 15,) made him master 
of Dresden, and the whole Electorate, which he laid under con- 
tribution. These victories accelerated the peace between the 
King of Prussia, the Queen, and the Elector of Saxony, which 
was signed at Dresden, under the mediation of Great Britain. 
The King of Prussia restored to the Elector all his estates, the 
latter promising to pay him a million of Imperial crowns. The 
Queen gave up Silesia and the Comte of Glatz ; while the King, 
as the Elector of Brandenburg, acquiesced in the election of 
Francis I. to the Imperial throne. The King of England, the 
Dutch, and the States of the Empire, undertook to guarantee 
these stipulations. 

The treaties of Fuessen and presden restored tranquillity to 
the Empire ; but the war was continued in the Netherlands, 
Italy, and in the East and West Indies. The French, under 
the conduct of Marshal Saxe, distinguished themselves in the 
Netherlands. The victories which they gained over the allie? 
at Fontenoy (May 11, 1745,) andatRocoux (Oct. 11, 1746,) pro- 
cured them the conquest of all the Austrian Netherlands, except 
the towns and fortresses of Luxemburg, Limburg, and Gueldres 

Charles Edward, son of the Pretender, encouraged and assist- 
ed by the Court of France, landed in Scotland in August 1745. 
Being joined by a number of partisans, v/hom he found in that 
kingdom, he caused his father to be proclaimed at Perth and 
Edinburgh, assuming to himself the title of Prince of Wales, 
and Regent of the three kingdoms. The victory which he gain- 
ed near Prestonpans over the English troops, rendered him mas- 
ter of all Scotland. He next invaded England, took Carlisle, 
and advanced as far as Derby, spreading terror and consternation 
in London. George II. was obliged to recall the Duke of Cum- 

. . . . 

berland, with his troops, from the Netherlands. That Prince 
drove back the Pretender, retook Carlisle, and restored tranquil- 
lity in Scotland, by defeating the Rebels near CuUoden in the 
Highlands. Charles Edward was then reduced to the necessity 
of concealing himself among the mountains, until the month of 
October following, when he found means to transport himself to 
France. 

The campaign of 1745 in Italy was glorious for the French, 
and their allies the Spaniards. Tne Republic of Genoa, being 



PERIOD vm. A. D. 1713 — 1789. 



357 



offended at the clause in the treaty of Worms, which took from 
them the marquisate of Finale, espoused the cause of the two 
crowns, and facilitated the junction of the French army of the 
Alps with that of Lombardy. One effect of this junction was 
the conquest of Piedmont, as also of Austrian Lombardy, except- 
ing the cities of Turin and Mantua, which the allies had laid 
under blockade. 

The fate of the war, however, experienced a new change in 
Italy, at the opening of the following campaign. Maria The- 
resa, disengaged from the war with Prussia, sent considerable 
reinforcements into Lombardy, which gave her arms a superi- 
ority over those of the allies. The French and Spaniards were 
stripped of all their conquests, and sustained a grand defeat at 
Placentia (June 16, 1746,) which obliged them to beat a retreat. 
To add to their misfortunes, the new King of Spain, Ferdinand 
VL, who had just succeeded his father, Philip V., being dis- 
pleased with the Court of France, and unfavourably inclined 
towards his brother Don Philip, recalled all his troops from Ita- 
ly. The French had then no other alternative left than to fol- 
low the Spaniards in their retreat. Italy w'as abandoned to the 
Austrians, and the French troops again returned to Provence. 
The whole Republic of Genoa, with its capital, fell into the 
hands of the Austrians. The King of Sardinia took possession of 
Finale, Savona, and the western part of the Republican terri- 
ritory. The Austrians, joined by the Piedmontese, made a 
descent on Provence, and undertook the siege of Antibes. 

An extraordinary event produced a diversion favourable for 
France, and obliged the Austrians and Piedmontese to repass 
the Alps. The Genoese being maltreated by the Austrians, 
who had burdened them with contributions and discretionary 
exactions, suddenly rose against their new masters. The in- 
surgents, with Prince Doria at their head, succeeded in expel- 
ling them from Genoa (Dec. 1746.) General Botta, who com- 
manded at Genoa, was obliged to abandon his stores and equip- 
age, that he might the more quickly escape from the territory 
of the Republic. The siege of Antibes was raised ; the allies 
repassed the Alps, and blockaded Genoa. But the French hav- 
ing sent powerful supplies by sea to that city, and at the same 
time made a vigorous attack on the side of Piedmont, relieved 
the Genoese, and obliged the enemy to retreat. 

In 1747, the French, who were already masters of the Aus- 
trian Netherlands, attacked and conquered Dutch Flanders. 
They blamed the Dutch for having sent constant supplies to 
Maria Theresa, for having invaded the French territory anJ 
granted a retreat through their ovvn to -Ke eueioy s troops.. 



Lue-' 



I 
M 



358 CHAPTER IX. 

the battle of Fontenoy. This invasion spread terror in the 
province of Zealand, who thus saw themselves deprived of their 
barrier, and exposed to the inroads of the French. The parti- 
sans of the Prince of Orange took advantage of that circum- 
stance to restore the Stadtholdership. This dignity, as well as 
ihat of Captain and Admiral-General of the Republic, had re- 
mained vacant since the death of William III. 

William IV., Prince of Nassau-Dietz, though he was testa- 
mentary heir to that prince, had only obtained the Stadtholder- 
ship of Friesland, to which was afterwards added that of Gro- 
ningen and Gueldres ; but the efforts which he made to obtain 
the other offices and dignities of the ancient Princes of Orange, 
proved ineffectual. The four provinces of Holland, Zealand, 
Utrecht, and Overyssel, persisted in their free government, and 
even refused the Prince the office of General of Infantry, which he 
had requested. France, by attacking Dutch Flanders, contribu- 
ted to the elevation of William. There was a general feeling in 
his favour in those provinces which had no Stadtholder ; the peo- 
ple of the different towns and districts rose in succession, and 
obliged the magistrates to proclaim William IV. as Stadtholder 
and Captain-General. This revolution was achieved without 
disturbance ; and without any obstacle on the part of those who 
had an interest in opposing it, but who were obliged to yield to 
the wishes of the people. They even went so far as to declare 
the Stadtholdership, as well as the offices of Captain and Admi- 
ral-General, hereditary in all the Prince's descendants, male 
and female — a circumstance unprecedented since the foundation 
of the Republic. 

This change which happened in the Stadtholdership did not, 
however, prevent the French from making new conquests. 
They had no sooner got possession of Dutch Flanders, than 
they attacked the town of Maestricht. The Duke of Cumber- 
land having advanced with the allied army to cover the town, a 
bloody battle took place near Laveld (July 2, 1747,) which was 
gained by the French, under the command of Marshal Saxe. 
The fortress of Bergen-op-Zoom, which was deemed impregna- 
ble by its situation and the marshes which surrounded it, was 
carried by assault by Count Lewendal, two months after he had 
opened his trenches. 

However brilliant the success of the French arms was on the 
Continent, they failed in almost all their maritime expeditions. 
The English took from them Louisburg and Cape Breton fn 
America ; and completely destroyed the French marine, which 
had been much neglected, under the ministry of Cardinal Fleu- 
ry. All the belligerent powers at length felt the necessity of 



PERIOD VIII. A. D. 1713 — 1789. 359 

peace ; and there Avere two events which tended to accelerate 
it. The Empress of Russia, conformable to the engagements 
into which she had entered with the Courts of Vienna and 
London, by the treaties of 1746 and 1747, had despatched 
Prince Repnin to the Rhine, at the head of 30,000 men. Mar- 
shal Saxe, at the same time, had laid siege to Maestricht, in 
presence of the enemy, who were 80,000 strong. The taking 
of that city would have laid open all Holland to the French, and 
threatened the Republic with the most disastrous consequences. 

A preliminary treaty was then signed at Aix-la-Chapelle, 
which was followed by a definitive peace (Oct. 18, 1748.) There 
all former treaties since that of Westphalia were renewed ; a 
mutual restitution was made on both sides, of all conquests 
made during the war, both in Europe, and in the East and West 
Indies ; and in consideration of the important restitutions which 
France had made on the Continent, they ceded to Don Philip, 
the son-in-law of Louis XV., and brother of Don Carlos, the 
dutchies of Parma, Placentia, and Guastalla ; to be possessed 
by him and his lawful heirs male. The treaty of preliminaries 
contained two conditions upon which the dutchies of Parma and 
Guastalla should revert to the Queen, and that of Placentia to 
the King of Sardinia ; viz. (1.) Failing the male descendants of 
Don Philip. (2.) If Don Carlos, King of the Two Sicilies, should 
be called to the throne of Spain. In this latter case, it was pre- 
sumed that the kingdom of the Two Sicilies should pass to Don 
Philip, the younger brother of that prince ; but they did not 
seem to recollect that the peace of Vienna (1738) had secured 
this latter kingdom to Don Carlos, and all his descendants male 
and female ; and consequently, nothing prevented that prince, 
should the case so happen, from transferring the Two Sicilies to 
one of his own younger sons ; supposing even that he were not per- 
mitted to unite that kingdom with the Spanish monarchy. The 
plenipotentiaries having perceived this oversight after the con- 
clusion of the preliminaries, took care to rectify it in the defini- 
tive treaty, by thus wording the second clause of the reversion, 
" Should Don Philip, or any of his descendants, be either called 
to the throne of Spain, or to that of the Two Sicilies." 

The Empress agreed to this change, but the King of Sardinia 
was not so complaisant. In respect to him, it was necessary to 
make the definitive treaty entirely conformable to the prelimi- 
naries. It was this circumstance which prevented the King of 
the Two Sicilies, from acceding to the treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle. 
By that treaty the King of Sardinia was confirmed in those dif- 
ferent possessions in the Milanois Avhich the treaty of Worms 
had adjudged him. These, however, did not include that part of 



360 CHAPTER IX. 

Placentia which had just been ceded to Don Philip ; nor the 
marquisate of Finale, which the Genoese retained. That Re- 
public, and the Duke of Modena, who had always been the ally 
of France, were restored to the same state in which they were 
before the war. Silesia was guaranteed to the King of Prussia 
by the whole of the contracting powers. As for England, be- 
sides the guarantee of the British succession in favour of the 
House of Hanover, she obtained a renewal of the expulsion o( 
the Pretender from the soil of France ; while this latter power, 
victorious on the continent, consented to revive the humiliating 
clause in the treaty of Utrecht, which ordered the demolition of 
the Port of Dunkirk. The only modification which was made 
to this clause was, that the fortifications of the place on the 
land side should be preserved. Lastly, by the sixteenth article 
of the treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle, the contract of the Assiento re- 
specting the slave trade granted to England by the treaty of 
Utrecht, was renewed in favour of the English Company of the 
Assiento, for the four years in which that trade had been inter- 
rupted during the war. * 

This peace produced no considerable change on the political 
state of Europe ; but by maintaining the King of Prussia in his 
conquest of Silesia, it raised a rival to Austria in the very centre 
of the Empire. The unity of the Germanic body was thus 
broken, and that body divided between the two leading powers, 
Austria and Prussia. The system of aggrandizement and con- 
venience which Frederic the Great had put in practice for de- 
priving Austria of Silesia came afterwards into vogue ; and by 
gradually undermining the system of equilibrium, which former 
treaties had introduced, it occasioned new revolutions in Europe. 

The dispute about the Austrian succession, extended its in- 
fluence to the North, where it kindled a war between Russia and 
Sweden. The Empress Anne, a little before her death (Oct. 17, 
1740,) had destined as her successor on the throne of Russia, the 
young prince Iwan or John, the son of her niece Anne of Meck- 
lenburg, by Prince Anthony Ulric of Brunswick. The Regency 
during the minority of Iwan, was conferred on her favourite 
Biron, whom she had raised to the first offices of the state, and 
created Duke of Gourland. The mother of the young Emperor, 
indignant at seeing the management of affairs in the hands of a 
favourite, gained over to her interests Field-Marshal Munich, 
by whose assistance the Duke of Gourland was arrested and 
banished to Siberia, whilst she herself was proclaimed Grand 
Dutchess and Regent of the Empire. 

The ministry of this princess were divided in their opinions, 
on the subject of the war about the Austrian succession. Some 



r-ERioD VIII. A. D. 1713 — 1789. 361 

supported the cause of Prussia, with which Russia had jusi re- 
newed her treaties of alliance; while others were inclined for 
Austria, the ancient ally of Russia. This latter party having 
prevailed, France, in order to prevent Russia from assisting 
Maria Theresa, thought proper to give her some occupation in 
the North. It was by no means difficult to raise Sweden 
against her ; where the faction of the Hats., then the ruling 
party, was entirely devoted to the French interest. This fac- 
tion, which was opposed by that of the Bonnets, or Caps, re- 
newed the treaty of subsidy with France, and also concluded a 
treaty of perpetual alliance against Russia (Dec. 22, 1739.) 
Encouraged by the young nobles, they flattered themselves that 
the time was come, when Sweden would repair the losses which 
she had sustained by the foolish expeditions of Charles XII. 

A Diet extraordinary was assembled at Stockholm (Aug. 
1741,) which declared war against Russia. They alleged, 
among other motives, the exclusion of the Princess Elizabeth, 
daughter of Peter the Great, and the Duke of Holstein-Gottorp, 
from the throne of Russia ; the assassination of Major Sinclair, 
who had been murdered, as the Swedes affirmed, by the emis- 
saries of Russia, while bearing despatches from Constantinople 
lor the Sv.'^edish Court, and when he was passing through Silesia 
on his way to Stockholm. This declaration of war had been 
made, before the Swedes could take those measures which pru- 
dence should have dictated. They had neither an army fit for 
action, nor stores prepared in Finland ; and their General, Count 
Lewenhaupt, had nothing to recommend him but his devotion 
to the ruling party. Sweden had flattered herself that the Turks 
would recommence the war with Russia, and that she would 
thus find resources in the alliance and subsidies of France. The 
first action, which took place near Wilmanstrand (Sept. 3, 1741) 
was quite in favour of the Russians ; a great number of Swedes 
were there either killed or made prisoners, and the town of Wil- 
manstrand was carried sword in hand. 

Meantime a revolution happened at St. Petersburg, which 
seemed to have brought about a favourable change for the Swe- 
dish government. The Princess Elizabeth, supported by the 
Marquis de la Chetardie, minister of France, andby a company 
of the guards whom she had drawn over to her interest, seized 
the Regent Anne, her husband the Prince of Brunswick, and the 
young Emperor ; all of whom she sent into exile, and caused 
herself to be proclaimed Empress. The Swedes, who had flat- 
tered themselves with having aided in placing that princess on 
the throne, immediately entered into negotiations with her ; but 
as they carried their pretensions too high, the conference was 
broken off', and the war continued. 



362 CHAPTER IX. I 

The campaign of 1742, proved also unfortunate for Sweden. 
Their army in Finland, though equal in point of strength to thai i ' 
of Eussia, durst not keep the field. They abandoned all their 
best posts one after another, and retired towards Helsingfors. : ; 
beyond the ri , er Kymen. Shut up in this position, and besieg- j ) 
ed by sea and land, they were obliged to capitulate. The Swe- 
dish troops returned home, the Finnish regiments laid down 
tneir arms, and the whole of Finland surrendered to the Russians. 

The States of Sweden having assembled under these circum- 
stances, and benig desirous of an accommodation with Russia, 
oifered the tlirone of Sweden to Charles Ulric, Duke of Holstein- 
Gottorp, and nephew of the Empress Elizabeth. That prince, 
however, declined the offer of the Diet. He had just been de- 
clared Grand Duke, and presumptive heir to the Russian Em- 
pire, and had embraced the Greek religion. This intelligence 
astounded the Diet, who then placed on the list of candidates for 
the throne, the Prince Royal of Denmark, the Duke of Deux- 
Ponts, and the Bishop of Lubec, uncle to the new Grand Duke 
of Russia. A considerable party were inclined for the Prince of 
Denmark ; and they were on the point of renewing the ancient 
union of the three kingdoms of the North in his favour. To 
prevent an election so prejudicial to the interests of Prussia, the 
Empress abated from the rigour of her first propositions, and 
offered to restore to the Swedes a great part of their conquests, 
on condition of bestowing their throne on Prince Adolphus Fre- 
deric, Bishop of Lubec. This condition having been acceded 
to. Prince Frederic was elected (July 3, 1743 ;) the succession to 
descend to his male heirs. A definitive peace was then conclu- 
ded between Russia and Sweden, at Abo in Finland. 

Sweden, by thus renouncing her alliance with the Porte, rati- 
fied anew all that she had surrendered to Russia by the peace of 
Nystadt. Moreover, she ceded to that Crown the province of 
Kymenegard in Finland, with the towns and fortresses of Frie- 
dricsham and Wilmanstrand ; as also the parish of Pyttis, lying 
to the east of the Kymen, and the ports, places, and districts, 
situated at the mouth of that river. The islands lyin^ on the 
south and west of the Kymen were likewise included in this 
cession ; as were also the town and fortress of Nyslott, with its 
territory. All the rest of Finland was restored to Sweden, to- 
gether with the other conquests which Russia had made during 
the war. The Swedes were permitted to purchase annually in 
the Russian Ports of the Baltic, and the Gulf of Finland, grain 
to the value of 50,000 rubles, without paying any export duty. 

Portugal, about the middle of the eighteenth century, became 
the scene of various memorable events, which attracted general 



J I 



PERIOD vni. A. D. 1713—1789. 363 

attention. John V., who had governed that kingdom from 1706 
till 1750, had fallen into a state of weakness and dotage, and 
abandoned the reins of government to Don Gaspard, his confes- 
sor, under whooe administration numerous abuses had crept into 
the state. Joseph I., the son and successor of John V., on 
ascending the throne (July 31, 1750,) undertook to reform these 
abuses. By the advice of his minister, Sebastian De Carvalho, 
afterwards created Count D'Oeyras, and Marquis De Pombal, 
he turned his attention to every branch of the administration. 
He patronized the arts and sciences, encouraged agriculture, 
manufactures, and commerce ; regulated the finances ; and used 
every effort to raise the army and navy of Portugal from that 
state of languor into which they had fallen. These innovations 
could not be accomplished without exciting discontent in the 
different orders of the state. The minister increased this by his 
inflexible severity, and the despotism which he displayed in the 
exercise of his ministerial functions ; as well as by the antipathy 
which he showed against the nobility and the ministers of reli- 
gion. The Companies which he instituted for exclusive com- 
merce to the Indies, Africa, and China, raised against him the 
whole body of merchants in the kingdom. He irritated the no- 
bility by the contempt which he testified towards them, and by 
annexing to the Crown those immense domains in Africa and 
America, which the nobles enjoyed by the munificence of former 
kings. The most powerful and the most dangerous enemies of 
this minister were the Jesuits, whom he had ventured to attack 
openly, and had even ordered to be expelled from Portugal. 
This event, which was attended with remarkable consequences, 
must be described more fully. 

During the life of John V., a treaty had been signed between 
the Courts of Madrid and Lisbon (1750,) in virtue of v/hich the 
Portuguese colony of St. Sacrament and the northern bank of 
the river La Plata in America, were ceded to Spain, in exchange 
for a part of Paraguay, lying on the eastern bank of the Uru- 
guay. This treaty was on the point of being carried into exe- 
cution ; the commissioners appointed for this purpose had com- 
menced their labours ; but the inhabitants of the ceded territories 
opposed the exchange, as did several individuals in both Courts. 
The Jesuits were suspected of being the authors and instigators 
of that opposition. In the territories which were to be ceded to 
Portugal, they had instituted a republic of the natives, which 
they governed as absolute masters ; and which they were afraid 
would be subverted, if the exchange in question should take 
place. They used every means, therefore, to thwart the arrange- 
ments of the two courts ; and it is alleged they even went so far 



364 CHAPTER IX. 

as lo excite a rebellion among the inhabitants of the countries to 
be exchanged. The consequence was, a long and expensive 
war between the two crowns, which occasioned much bloodshed, 
and cost Portugal alone nearly twenty millions of cruzados. 

In the midst of these events, there occurred a terrible earth- 
quake, which, in the twinkling of an eye, demolished the greater 
part of Lisbon, and destroyed between twenty and thirty thou- 
sand of its inhabitants (Nov. 1, 1755.) Fire consumed what- 
ever had escaped from the earthquake ; while the overflowing 
of the sea, cold and famine, added to the horrors of these ca- 
lamities, which extended even over a great part of the kingdom. 
The Jesuits were reproached for having, at the time of this distres- 
sing event, announced new disasters, which were to overwhelm 
Portugal, as a punishment for the sins of which the inhabitants 
had been guilty. These predictions, added to the commotions 
which still continued in Brazil, served as a pretext for depriving 
the Jesuits of their office of Court-confessors, shutting them out 
from the palace, and even interdicting them from hearing con 
fessions over the whole kingdom. 

The outrage which was committed against the King's person 
immediately after, furnished the minister with another pretext 
against that religious order. The King, when going by night 
to Belem, (Sept. 3, 1758,) was attacked by assassins, who mis- 
took him for another, and fired several shots at him, by which 
he was severely wounded. Several of the first nobles in the 
kingdom were accused, among others the Duke d'Aveiro, the 
Marquis and Marchioness de Tavora, the Count d'Atougia, &c. 
as being the ringleaders in this plot against the King's life, who 
were sentenced to execution accordingly, [but their innocence 
was afterwards fully established.] 

The Jesuits were also implicated in this affair, and publicly 
declared accomplices in the King's assassination. They were 
proscribed as traitors and disturbers of the public peace ; theii 
goods were confiscated ; and every individual belonging to the 
order was embarked at onf^e at the several ports of the king 
dom, without any regard to age or infirmities, and transported 
to Civita Vecchia within the Pope's dominions. The Portu 
guese minister, apprehensive that this religious order, if pre- 
served in the other states of Europe, would find means, sooner 
or later, to return to Portugal, used every endeavour to have 
their Society entirely suppressed. He succeeded in this at- 
tempt by means of the negotiations which he set on foot with 
several of the Catholic courts. In France the Society was 
dissolved, in virtue of the decrees issued by the parliament 
(1762.) Paris set the first example of this. Louis XV. declared. 



ITRIOD VIII. A. D. 1713 — 1789. SKjS 

that the Society should no longer exist within the kingdom. 
The Court of Madrid, where they had two powerful enemies 
in the ministry, Counts d'Aranda and de Caraponianes, coni- 
manded all the Jesuits to depart from the territory and jurisdic'- 
tion of Spain ; and, at the same time, declared their goods con- 
fiscated. They were likewise expelled from the kingdom of 
Naples ; and the order was at length entirely suppressed, by a 
brief of Pope Clement XIV. (July 21, 1773.)5 

The peace of Aix-la-Chapelle had by no means -restored a 
good understanding between France and England. A jealous 
rivalry divided the two nations, which served to nourish and 
multiply subjects of discord between them. Besides, the ac- 
tivity of the French in repairing their marine, which had been 
destroyed in the last war, was viewed with jealousy by Great 
Britain, then aspiring to the absolute command of the sea, and 
conscious that France alone Avas able to counteract her ambi- 
tious projects. Several matters of dispute, which the peace of 
Aix-la-Chapelle had left undecided, still subsisted betweeen the 
two nations, relative to their possessions in America. The prin- 
cipal of these, regarded the boundaries of Nova Scotia and Cana* 
da, and the claims to the neutral islands. Nova Scotia had beeli 
ceded to England, by the twelfth article of the treaty of Utrecht, 
according to its ancient limits. These limits the French had 
circumscribed within the bounds of the peninsula which forms 
that province ; while the English insisted on extending them to 
the southern bank of the river St. Lawrence, of which the ex- 
clusive navigation belonged to the French. 

The limits of Canada AVere not better defined than those of 
Nova Scotia. The French, with the view of opening a com- 
munication between Canada and Louisiana, had constructed se- 
veral forts along the river Ohio, on the confines of the English 
colonies in America. This was opposed by England, who was 
afraid that these establishments would endanger the safety of 
her colonies, especially that of Virginia. The neutral islands, 
namely the Caribees, which comprehended St. Lucia, Domini- 
ca, St. Vincent, and Tobago, still remained in a contested state, 
according to the ninth article of the treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle. 
The French, however, alleged certain acts of possession, by 
which they claimed the property of thes.e islands, as well as of 
the Caicos and Turkish islands. Commissioners were appoint- 
ed on both sides to bring these disputes to an amicable termi- 
nation. A conference was opened at Paris, which began aborat 
the end of September 1750, and continued for several years ; 
but as neither party was disposed to act with sincerity, these 
conferences ended in nothing. The English, who saw that the 



L.; 



366 CHAPTER IX. 

Frpncli only sought to gain time for augmenting their marine 
hastened the rupture by committing acts of hostility in America. 

The first breach of the peace was committed on the banks of 
the Ohio, where the French, to avenge the murder of one of their 
officers, seized on Fort Necessity, belonging to the English 
(July 1754.) The English, on their side, captured two French 
vessels off the Bank of Newfoundland, which had refused to 
salute the English flag. They even attacked all the French 
merchantmen which they met, and captured about three hun- 
dred of them. Thus, a long and bloody war was waged for the 
deserts and uncultivated wilds of America, which extended its 
ravages over all parts of the globe, involving more especially 
the countries of Europe. 

England, according to a well known political stratagem, 
sought to occupy the French arms on the Continent ; in order 
to prevent the increase of her maritime strength. France, in- 
stead of avoiding that snare, and confining herself solely to 
naval operations, committed the mistake of falling in with the 
views of the British minister. While repelling the hostilities 
of England by sea, she adopted at the same time measures for 
invading the Electorate of Hanover. The Court of London, 
wishing to guard against this danger, began by forming a 
closer alliance with Russia (Sept. 30, 1755 ;) they demanded of 
the Empress those supplies which they thought they might 
claim in virtue of former treaties ; and on the refusal of that 
princess, who was afraid to disoblige France, and to find her- 
self attacked by Prussia, they applied to this latter power, with 
Avhich they concluded a treaty at Westminster (Jan. 16, 1756;) 
the chief object of which was to prevent foreign troops from 
entering into the Empire during the war between France and 
England. To this treaty France opposed the alliance which 
she had concluded with Austria at Versailles, by which the two 
powers guaranteed their respective possessions in Europe, and 
promised each other a mutual supply of twenty-four thousand 
men in case of attack. The differences then subsisting between 
France and Great Britain were not reckoned among the Casus 
Federis. 

[The alliance of 1756 has given rise to different opinions 
among statesmen ; the greater part have condemned it. Its ob- 
ject was, on the part of France, to guard herself against all at- 
tacks on the Continent, that she might direct her whole force 
against her maritime rival ; but experience proved, that without 
attaining this object, she was henceforth obliged to take part in 
all the disputes of the Continent, however foreign they might 
be to her own policy. It was even contrary to her interests to 



I 

I 
I 



li 



PERIOD VIII. A. D. 1713—1789. 367 

have Austria extricated from the embarrassments which the op- 
position of Prussia had occasioned her. If that project had suc- 
ceeded, Austria would have become the preponderating power 
in Germany, to a degree which would have compelled the French 
to turn their arms against her.] 

While the French were still hesitating as to the part which 
they ought to take relative to the Electorate of Hanover, the 
King of Prussia invaded Saxony (Aug. 1756.) On taking this 
step, he published a manifesto, the object of which was to prove 
by the despatches of the three Courts of Vienna, Dresden, and 
Petersburg, that they had concerted a plan among them for at- 
tacking him ; and that common prudence required him to pre- 
vent it. He declared at the same time, that his entrance into 
Saxony had no other aim than that of opening a communication 
with Bohemia ; and that he would only retain that country as a 
depot until the conclusion of the peace. This invasion, however, 
stirred up a powerful league against Prussia (1757.) Besides 
France and the Empress, it was joined by the Germanic body, 
Russia and Sweden. France, which had at first restricted her- 
self to furnishing the Empress with the supplies stipulated by 
the alliance, agreed, by a subsequent treaty, to despatch an army 
of more than 100,000 men into Germany, against the King of 
Prussia, and his ally the King of England ; and, moreover, to 
pay to that Princess an annual subsidy of twelve millions of 
florins. 

In this war the French arms were attended at first with the 
most brilliant success. They conquered the island of Minorca, 
and seized the Electorate of Hesse, and the whole States of 
Brunswick and Hanover ; but fortune soon turned her back on 
them, when they experienced nothing but defeats and disasters. ^ 
The extraordinary efforts which they were making on the Con- 
tinent naturally tended to relax their maritime operations, and 
thus afforded England the means of invading their possessions 
in other parts of the world. In the years 1757 and 1761, Chan- 
dernagore, Pondicherry, and Mahe, in the East Indies, fell into 
che hands of the English ; and in 1758, they seized on all the 
French settlements on the river Senegal and the coasts of Africa. 
The Islands of Cape Breton and St. John in America ; the forts 
and settlements on the Ohio ; Quebec (Avhere General "Wolfe 
fell.) and the whole of Canada, were all conquered in like man- 
ner, between the years 1756 and 1760. Finally, the Islands of 
Guadaloupe, Mariagalante, Dominica, Martinique, Grenada, St. 
Vincent, St. Lucia, and Tobago, were also taken from France. 

The King of Prussia, though overwhelnied by the number of 
his enemies, and finding no great assistance from his alliance ^ 



I ' 



368 CHAPTER IX. 

\vith England, nevertheless did not lose courage. He distin- 
guished himself by the number of victories which he gained 
over the powers leagued against him, during the campaigns of 
the Seven Years' War." This war was already far advanced, 
when the Duke de Choiseul, who was then at the head of the 
French ministry, observing the great superiority of the English 
by sea, conceived the plan of the famous Family Compact, which 
he negotiated with the Court of Madrid, and which was conclu- 
ded at Paris (August 15, 1761.) The object of this treaty was 
to cement an alliance and a perpetual union among the differ- 
ent branches of the House of Bourbon, for the purpose of coun- 
terbalancing the maritime power of England. 

The King of Spain had come under no engagment to join in 
the war which subsisted between France and England ; but the 
haughty manner in Avhich the Court of London demanded of 
him an account of the principles of the Family Compact, gave 
rise to a declaration of war between these two courts. Spain 
and France required the King of Portugal to accede to their 
alliance against England. That prince in vain alleged the 
treaties which connected him with the English nation, and which 
would not permit him to take part against them. A declaration, 
published by the two allied courts, set forth, that the Spanish 
troops should enter Portugal to secure the ports of that kingdom , 
and that it should be left at the King's option to receive them as 
friends or as enemies ; and it was this which laid him under the 
necessity of declaring himself in favour of England (May 18, 
1762.) An English fleet, with a supply of troops, was then sent 
to the relief of Portugal ; while a body of French troops joined 
the Spanish army which was destined to act against that king- 
dom. The city of Almeida was the only conquest which the 
Spaniards made in Portugal. The English, on the contrary, 
took from the Spaniards the Havana, and a great part of the 
Island of Cuba in America ; as also Manilla and the Philip 
pines in the Indian Ocean. The war thus became m)re general, 
and seemed about to assume a neAV vigour, when an unforeseen 
event changed entirely the face of affairs, and disposed the bel- 
ligerents for peace. 

Elizabeth, Empress of Russia, died about this time ; and 
Peter III., nephew to that princess, ascended the throne. Peter, 
who was a great admirer of the King of Prussia, took an early 
opportunity of making j eace with that prince. A suspension of 
arms was signed between the two crowns, which was followed 
by a treaty of peace concluded at St. Petersburg (May 5, 1762.) 
By that treaty, Russia surrendered all the conquests which she 
had made in Prussia and Pomerania d ix'uiQ the war. Peter 



t.!=z:: 



PERIOD viiL A. D. 1713—1789. 369 

renounced the alliances which he had formerly contracted 
aganist the King of Prussia; while he, in his turn, refused to 
form alliances or engagements contrary to the interests of Rus- 
sia, or to the hereditary possessions of Peter in Germany. But 
the new Emperor was not content with testifying this mark of 
affection for the King of Prussia. He agreed to send a body of 
troops into Silesia to his assistance. A revolution, however, 
happened in Russia, which occasioned new changes. Peter III. 
was dethroned (July 9,) after a reign of six months. The Em- 
jiress Catherine II., his widow, on ascending the throne, pre- 
served the treaty of peace with the King of Prussia ; but she 
recalled her troops from Silesia, and declared that she would 
maintain neutrality between the King and the Empress. 

Sweden, who had experienced nothing but defeats in course 
of that war, followed the example of Russia. She agreed to a 
suspension of arms with the King of Prussia, and soon after con- 
cluded a treaty of peace with him at Hamburg (May 22, 1762.) 
These tAvo treaties paved the way for a general peace, the pre- 
liminaries of which were signed at Fountainbleau, between 
France, England, S{5ain and Portugal. The definitive peace 
was concluded at Paris (Feb. 10, 1763.) This treaty was fol- 
lowed by that of Hubertsburg, which reconciled Prussia with 
the Empress and the Elector of Saxony. 

By this latter treaty, the Empress surrendered to the King of 
Prussia the province of Glatz, as also the fortresses of Wesel 
and Gueldres. The Elector of Saxony again took possession 
of those States which the King of Prussia had taken from him ; 
and the treaties of Breslau, Berlin and Dresden, were renewed. 
Thus, after seven campaigns, as sanguinary as they were ex- 
pensive, the peace of Hubertsburg restored the affairs of Ger- 
many to the same state in which they had been before the war. 

France, by the treaty of Paris,, ceded to England Canada and 
the island of Cape Breton, with the islands and coasts of the Gulf 
and River of St. Lawrence. The boundaries between the two 
nations in North America were fixed by a line drawn along the 
middle of the Mississippi, from its source to its mouth. All on 
the left or eastern bank of that riv^r was given up to England, 
except the city of New Orleans, wnich was reserved to France ; 
as was also the liberty of the fisheries on a part of the coasts of 
Newfoundland, and the Gulf of St. Lawrence. The islands of 
St. Peter and Miquelon were given them as a shelter for their 
fishermen, but without permission to raise fortifications. The 
islands of Martinico, Gaudalonpe, Mariagalante, Desirada, and 
St. Lucia, were surrendered to France; while Grenada, the 
Grenadines, St. Vincent, Dominica, and Tobago, were ceded to 

24 



370 CHAPTER IX. 

EiK^land. The latter power retained her conquests on the Sen- 
egal, and restored to France the island of Gorea on the coast of 
Africa. France was put in possession of the forts and factories 
which belonged to her in the East Indies, on the coasts of Coro- 
mandel, Orissa, Malabar, and Bengal, under the restriction oJ 
keeping up no military force in Bengal. 

In Europe, France restored all the conquests she had made 
in Germany ; as also the island of Minorca, England gave up 
to her Belleisle on the coast of Brittany ; while Dunkirk was 
kept in the same condition as had been determined by the peace 
of Aix-la-Chapelle. The island of Cuba, with the Havana, was 
restored to the King of Spain, who, on his part, ceded to Eng- 
land Florida, with Fort Augustine and the Bay of Pensacola. 
The King of Portugal was restored to the same state in which 
he had been before the war. The colony of St. Sacrament in 
America, which the Spaniards had conquered, was given back 
to him.^ 

The peace of Paris, of which we have just now spoken, was 
the era of England's greatest prosperity. Her commerce and 
navigation extended over all parts of tWe globe, and were sup- 
ported by a naval force, so much the more imposing, as it was 
no longer counterbalanced by the maritime power of France, 
which had been almost annihilated in the preceding war. The 
immense territories which that peace had secured her, both in 
Africa and America, opened new channels for her industry, 
and, what deserves especially to be remarked, is, that she ac- 
quired at the same time vast and important possessions in the 
East Indies. 

The Empire of the Great Mogul in India had fallen into decay 
about the beginning of the eighteenth century. The viceroys 
and petty governors of the Empire, called Soubahs and Nabobs 
had become independent, and usurped the prerogatives of royalty 
in the districts under their authority ; while the Mogul Empe- 
ror, reduced almost to the single city of Delhi, his capital, pre- 
served nothing but the shadow of sovereign power, by means of 
the investitures which he granted to these ambitious princes, 
and the coinage that was struck in his name. Whenever any 
differences arose among these princes, they usually had recourse 
to the European nations, who had settlements in India, and had 
erected forts with the consent of the Great Mogul, where they 
kept an armed force for the protection of their commerce. If 
the French took the part of one nabob, it was sufficient to induce 
the English to espouse the quarrel of his adversary ; and while 
the two nations were mutually cultivating peace in Europe, 
they were often at the same time making war in India, by fur- 



PERIOD VIII. A. D. 1713— 1789. 371 

nishing supplies to their respective allies. Success was tor n 
long time equal on both sides ; and it was not until the war of 
1755, and by the victories and conquests of the famous Lord 
Clive, that England obtained a decided ascendency over the 
French in that quarter of the world. 

Sourajah Dowlah, the Soubah of Bengal, instigated, as is sup- 
posed, by the French, had taken possession of Calcutta (1756,) 
the principal settlement of the English on the Ganges. His 
cruel treatment of the English garrison, which he had made 
prisoners of war, excited the resentment of that nation. To 
avenge this outrage, Colonel Clive, supported by Admiral Wat- 
son, retook Calcutta (Jan. 1757 ;) and after having dispossessed 
the French of Chandernagore, their principal establishment on 
the Ganges, he vanquished the Soubah in several actions, de- 
posed him, and put in his place JafRer Ali Khan, his general 
and prime minister, who was entirely devoted to England. 

With this era commences the foundation of the British Empire 
in India. It happened a short time after, that the Mogul Empe- 
ror, Shah AUum, being driven from his capital by the Patans, 
an Indian tribe, solicited the protection of the English, who 
availed themselves of this occasion, as well as of the death of 
Jaffier Ali, which happened at this time, to get themselves vested 
by treaty (1765,) and by means of an Imperial charter, in the 
sovereignty of all Bengal. In virtue of this title, which legiti- 
mated their power in the eyes of the people, they seized on the 
public revenues of the kingdoms of Bengal, Bahar, and Orissa ; 
with the reservation of an annual tribute, which they promised 
to pay to the Mogul Emperor, and certain pensions which they 
assigned to the Soubahs, whose phantom power they disposed 
of at their pleasure. The dominion of the English in India, was 
increased still more by subsequent conquests ; the most impor- 
tant of which was the powerful state of Mysore, which they 
utterly overthrew, after a series of wars which they carried on 
with Hyder Ali, and his successor Tippoo Saib.^ 

[The death of Ferdinand VI., King of Spain, was an event of 
some importance. He was succeeded by his brother Don Carlos, 
King of the Two Sicilies, and eldest son of Philip V. by his 
second marriage, who assumed the title of Charles III. Under 
this prince the philosophy of the eighteenth century penetrated 
into Spain, where it displayed an energy, and gave rise to con 
sequences, which had not yet attended it in France. It occa- 
sioned the downfall of the Jesuits, which was accompanied by 
deed^ repugnant to justice and humanity. The ministers and 
counsellors of that monarch, the Counts Arranda, Florida Blanca, 
and Campomanes, introduced into the internal administration 



fi 



372 CHAPTER IX. 

of Spain, especially its finances and tactics, an order aim rc<ni- 
larity which had been long unknown in that country. Agricul- 
ture, commerce, and industry were beginning to recover from 
their langour, when the American war again threw them into 
a state of fatal depression.] 

Before quitting Naples to take possession of the throne of 
Spain, Don Carlos, who, as King of the Two Sicilies, had the 
title of Charles VII., published a fundamental law, bearing, that 
agreeably to former treaties which did not admit the union of 
the Italian States with the Spanish monarchy, he transferred 
the kingdom of the Two Sicilies to his third son Don Ferdinand ; 
as his eldest son, Don Philip, was incapable of reigning, and his 
second, Don Carlos, was destined for the throne of Spain. He 
intrusted the administration to a regency, during the nonage of 
the young prince, whose majority was fixed at the age of seven- 
teen. By this law he regulated the order of succession which 
was to take place in the kingdom of the Two Sicilies, and which 
was the same as that which Philip V. had established in Spain 
at the Cortes of 1713. After the descendants male and female 
of his own body, Charles substituted his brothers Don Philip, 
Duke of Parma, and Don Louis ; adding, that the kingdom of 
the Two Sicilies should never in any case be united with the 
Spanish monarchy. This regulation of the new King of Spain 
accorded perfectly with the terms of the seventh article of the 
treaty of Vienna (17.38,) which secured the kingdom of the Two 
Sicilies to that prince and his descendants, male and female ; 
and failing these, to his younger brothers and their descendants, 
of both sexes. 

The King of Sardinia continued, however, to enforce his right 
of reversion to that part of Placentia, which the fourth article ol 
the treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle had secured to him, in case Don 
Carlos should remove from the kingdom of the Two Sicilies to 
the crown of Spain. The Court of France, wishing to retain that 
possession for Don Philip, and to prevent the tranquillity of Italj 
from being disturbed by the pretensions of the King of Sardinia, 
engaged to procure that prince an equivalent with which he 
should have reason to be satisfied. This equivalent was settled 
(June 10, 1763) by a convention concluded at Paris, between 
France, Spain, and the King of Sardinia. The latter consented 
to restrict his right of reversion in the two cases specified in the 
seventh article of the treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle ; viz. (1.) Fail- 
ing the male descendants of Don Philip ; (2.) Should that prince, 
or one of his descendants, be called either to the throne of Spain 
or to that of the Two Sicilies ; and should one or other of these 
two caseo happen in the meantime, the crowns of France and 



PFRioD VIII. A. D. 1713—1789. 373 

Spain engaged that the King of Sardinia should enjoy the same 
auioimt of' annual revenue, which might accrue to him (after 
deducting the expenses of administration,) from that part of Pla- 
centia on the Nura, should he ever come into actual possession. 
Foi this purpose, France undertook, by a special agreement, 
which was signed at Paris the same day with the preceding, to 
pay the King of Sardinia, by twelve instalments, the sum of 
eight millions two hundred livres ; on condition of reverting to 
France, should one or other of these alternatives happen. 

The sudden aggrandizement of Russia, since the time of Peter 
the Great, had changed the political system of the North. That 
power had raised herself to the first rank. She dictated the law 
to Poland and Sweden, her ancient rivals ; disposed of the 
throne of Poland on every change of reign ; and at the same 
time decided the fate of Courland. That dutchy, which had 
long been possessed by the family of Kettler who held it as a 
fief of the crown of Poland, had become vacant on the death of the 
Duke Ferdinand, the last male descendant of that House. Ann, 
Empress of Russia, being then only Dutchess of Courland, had a 
favourite, named Ernest John Biron, a man raised by fortune, 
whose grandfather had been groom to James III., Duke of Cour- 
land. When that princess mounted the throne of Russia, she 
raised Biron to the rank of Count, and to the office of Great 
Chamberlain and Prime Minister. The haughty favourite as- 
sumed the name and arms of the family of Biron, in France ; 
and prevailed with the Empress to grant him the dutchy of 
Courland. At the death of the last Duke, he even succeeded in 
getting himself elected by the States of that country (1737;) 
with the aid of a body of Russian troops, which the Empress 
had sent to Mittau, to support his election. He was invested 
in the dutchy by the Republic of Poland, to be possessed by him- 
self and his heirs-male ; but he did not long enjoy this new dig- 
nity. He was deprived of it on the death of the Empress (1740;; 
and banished to Siberia by the Grand Dutchess Ann, mother of 
the young Emperor. This princess caused a new election to 
be made by the nobility of Courland. The dutchy was then 
conferred on Louis Ernest, Prince of Brunswick, who was to 
marry Elizabeth, daughter of Peter the Great. But the young 
Emperor, Iwan, having been dethroned immediately after, the 
Prince of Brunswick never obtained possession of the dutchy. 
The Empress Elizabeth having decla'-ed to the Republic of 
Poland that the Duke de Biron shoulo never be liberated from 
his exile, Augustus III., King of Poland, declared the dutchy of 
Courland vacant. He then pre /ailed on the States cf ihai coun- 
try to elect his own son. Prince Charles, whom he solemnly 
invested in the dutchv (17r'>9.) 



374 CHAPTER IX. 

A new change happened at the death of the Empress Eliza- 
beth, in 1762. Peter III., on his accession to the throne o.t Rus- 
sia, recalled the Duke de Biron from his exile. The Empress, 
Catherine II., who succeeded her husband that same year, weni 
even farther than this ; she demanded the restoration of de 
Biron to the dutchy of Courland, and obliged Prince Charles of 
Saxony to give it up to him (1769.) The Duke de Biron then 
resigned the dutchy to his son Peter, who, after a reign of twen- 
ty-five years, surrendered it to the Empress ; the States of 
Courland and Semigallia made a formal submission to Russia 
(March 28, 1795.) 

The dethronement of Peter III., which we have just men- 
tioned, was an event very favourable to Denmark, as it relieved 
that kingdom from a ruinous war with which it was threatened 
on the part of the Emperor. Peter III. was the head of the 
House of Holstein-Gottorp, whom Denmark had deprived of 
their possessions in Sleswick, by taking advantage of the dis- 
asters that befell Sweden, which had protected that family 
against the Danish kings. The Dukes of Holstein-Gottorp ex- 
claimed against that usurpation ; to which the Court of Denmark 
had nothing to oppose, except their right of conquest, and the 
guarantee which the Kings of France and England, as media- 
tors in the treaty of Stockholm, had given to Denmark with 
respect to Sleswick. 

Peter III. was scarcely seated on the throne of Russia, when 
he began to concert means for recovering his ancient patrimo- 
nial domains, and avenging the wrongs which the Dukes of 
Holstein-Gottorp, his ancestors, had received at the hands of 
Denmark. Being determined to make war against that power, 
he attached the King of Prussia to his cause, and marched a 
Russian army of 60,000 men towards the frontiers of Denmark 
Six thousand Prussians were to join this army,Avhich was sup- 
ported by a Russian fleet to be stationed on the coasts of Po- 
merunia. The King of Denmark made every effort to repel the 
invasion with which he was threatened. He set on foot an army 
of 70,000 men, the command of which he intrusted to M. de 
St. Germain, a distinguished French officer. 

The Danish army advanced towards Mecklenburg, and esta- 
blished their head-quarters in the town of that name, one 
league from Wismar. The Danish fleet, consisting of twenty 
sail of the line and e]«ven frigates, appeared at the same time 
oft' Rostock. The flames of war were about to kindle in the 
North, and Peter III. was on the point of joining his army in 
person at INlecklenburg, when he was dethroned, after a short 
reign of six months (July 9. 1762.^ The Empress Catherine 



fERioD VDi. A. D. 1713 — 17S9. 375 

II., who succeeded him, did not think fit to espouse the quarrel 
of her husband. She immediately recalled the Russian army 
from Mecklenburg ; and being desirous of establishing the tran- 
quillity of the North on a solid basis, and confirming a good un- 
derstanding between the two principal branches of the House 
of Holstein, she agreed, by a treaty of alliance with the King 
of Denmark (1765,) to terminate all these differences by a 
provisional arrangement, which was not to take effect until the 
majority of the Grand Duke Paul, the son of Peter III. 

This accommodation between the two Courts was signed at 
Copenhagen (April 22, 1762.) The Empress, in the name of 
her son, gave up her claim to the ducal part of Sleswick, oc- 
cupied by the King of Denmark. She ceded, moreover, to 
that sovereign a portion of Holstein, possessed by the family of 
Gottorp, in exchange for the counties of Oldenburg and Del- 
menhorst. It was agreed, that these counties should be erect- 
ed into dutchies, and that the ancient suffrage of Holstein-Got- 
torp, at the Imperial Diet, should be transferred to them. This 
provisional treaty was ratified when the Grand Duke came of 
age ; and the transference of the ceded territories took place in 
1773. At the same time that prince declared, that he designed 
the counties of Oldenburg and Delmenhorst to form an esta- 
blishment for a younger branch of his family, that of Eutin ; 
to which the contracting powers also secured the bishopric of 
Lubec, to be held in perpetual possession. The bishop of Lubec, 
the head of the younger branch of the Gottorp family, was that 
same year put in possession of the counties of Oldenburg and 
Delmenhorst ; and the Emperor Joseph II. erected these coun- 
ties into a dutchy and fief male of the Empire, under the title 
of the Dutchy of Holstein-Oldenburg. 

Here it will be necessary to advert to the revolutions that took 
place in the Island of Corsica, which, after a long series of troubles 
and distractions, passed from the dominion of Genoa to that of 
France. The oppressions which the Corsicans had suffered 
under the government of the Genoese, who treated them with 
extreme rigour, had rendered their yoke odious and insupporta- 
ble. They rose several times in rebellion against the Republi- 
cans ; but from the want of union among themselves, they failed 
in the different attempts which they made for effecting their 
liberty and independence. 

One of the last insurrections of the Corsicans was that of 
1729. They chose for their leader Andrew Ceccaldi of a noble 
family in the Island, and Luigi Giafferi, a man of courage and 
an enthusiast for lil>erty. The Genoese, after trying in vam to 
subdue the insurgents, were obliged to have recourse to the pro 



376 CHAPTER lA. 

tection of foreigners. They applied to the Emperor Charles 
VI., who sent them several detachments of troops under tne 
command of General Wachtendonk, and Prince Frederic Louis 
of Wurtemberg. The Corsicans, too feeble to oppose an enemv 
so superior in strength, were glad to lay down their arms. But 
the war about the Polish Succession having obliged the Empe- 
ror to withdraw his troops, the Islanders raised a new insurrec- 
tion. A general assembly was then convened, which declared 
Corsica to be a free and independent republic (1734.) GiafFeri 
was re-elected General, and had for his colleague Hyacinthus 
Paoli, father to the famous general of that name. Thus the Ge- 
noese, after lavishing much expense on auxiliary troops, had the 
mortification to find themselves still in the same condition in 
which they were, before receiving the Imperial succours. They 
then took into their pay bodies of Swiss and Grison troops ; and 
even enlisted outlaws and vagabonds, and placed them in their 
ranks to oppose the Corsicans. 

It happened, during these transactions, that an adventurer ap- 
peared in Corsica, the celebrated Theodore Baron Neuhof. He 
was descended of a noble family in the county of Mark, in West- 
phalia ; and having procured arms and ammunition at Tunis, 
he repaired to Corsica (1736,) where he Avas determined to try 
his fortune. His engaging manners, added to the prospects 
which he held out of a poAverful foreign assistance, induced the 
Corsicans to confer on him the royal dignity. He was proclaim- 
ed King of Corsica, and immediately assumed the external 
badges of royalty. He appointed guards and officers of state, 
corned money in his own name, and created an order of knight- 
hood, called the Redemption. Taking advantage of the enthu- 
siasm with which he had inspired the Corsicans, he boldly made 
war on the Genoese, and laid several of their places under 
blockade. But his money being exhausted, and the people be- 
ginning to cool in their attachment towards him, he took the 
determination of applying for assistance to foreigners. He em- 
barked for Holland, where he found means to engage a society 
of merchants, by the allurements of a lucrative commerce with 
Corsica, to furnish him with artillery, ammunition, and other 
supplies, Avith which he returned to the Island. 

Under these circumstances, the Genoese, threatened with 
losing for ever their sovereignty over Corsica, entered into an 
association with the Court of Versailles. This Court, fearing 
thai. England would take advantage of these disturbances to get 
possession of the Island, concerted measures with the Court of 
Vieruia, for obliging the Corsicans to return to their allegiance 
to the Genoese. For this purpose, a plan of pacification was 



li 



PERIOD VIII. A. D. 1713—1789. 377 

drawn up at Versailles, and Count tie BoissJeux was charged to 
carry it into execution. This General landed in the Island 
(173S,) at the head of a body of French auxiliaries ; and his ar- 
rival determined King Theodore to abandon Corsica, and seek 
his safety in flight. He retired to London, where he was im- 
prisoned for debt. After a long captivity he was set at liberty, 
and died in a state of misery (1756.) Boissieux harassed the 
Corsicans exceedingly, but he failed in his efforts to reduce them 
co submission. His successor, the Marquis de Maillebois, was 
more fortunate ; he took his measures with such precision and 
vigour, that he obliged the Islanders to lay down their arms, and 
receive the law from the conqueror. Their Generals, Giafferi 
and Paoli, retired to Naples. 

The war of the Austrian Succession, having obliged the 
French Court to recall their troops from Corsica, that island be- 
came the scene of new disturbances. Gafforio and Matra then 
took upon them the functions of generalship, and the direction 
of affairs. They had a colleague and coadjutor in the person 
of Count Rivarola, a native of Corsica, who, with the assistance 
of some English vessels succeeded in expelling the Genoese 
from Bastia and San Fiorenzo. The Corsicans might have 
pushed their advantages much farther, if they could have sub- 
dued their own feuds and private animosities, and employed 
themselves solely in promoting the public interest ; but their 
internal divisions retarded their success, and allowed their ene- 
mies to recover the places they had conquered. Rivarola and 
Matra having resigned the command, the sole charge devolved 
on Gafforio, who w^as a man of rare merit and of tried valour. 
He was beginning to civilize his countrymen, and to give some 
stability to the government of the island, when he was assassi- 
nated, as is supposed, by the emissaries of the Genoese (1753.) 
His death plunged Corsica once more into the state of disorder 
and anarchy, from which he had laboured to deliver it. 

At length appeared the celebrated Pascal Paoli, whom his 
aged father had brought from Naples to Corsica. Being elected 
General-in-chief by his countrymen (1755,) he inspired them 
with fresh courage ; and while he carried on the war with suc- 
cess against the Genoese, he made efforts to reform abuses in the 
State, and to encourage agriculture, letters and arts. Nothing 
was wanting to accomplish this object, and to confirm the liberty 
and independence of his country, but the expulsion of the Geno- 
ese from the maritime towns of Bastia, San Fiorenzo, Calvi, Al- 
gagliola and Ajaccio ; the only places which still remained in 
their power. In this he would probably have succeeded, had he 
not met with new interruptions from France, who had underta- 



378 CHAPTER IX. 

ken, by the several treaties which she had concluded with ihs 
Genoese in the years 1752, 1755, 1756 and 1764, to defend their 
ports and fortifications in that island. 

The original intention of the French, in taking possession of 
these places, was not to carry on hostilities with Paoli and the 
natives, but simply to retain them for a limited time, in discharge 
of a debt which the French government had contracted with the 
Kej ablic of Genoa. The Genoese had flattered themselves, 
that if exonerated from the duty of guarding the fortified places, 
they would be able, with their own forces, to reconquer all the 
rest of the island ; but it was not long before they found them- 
selves deceived in their expectations. The Corsicans drove the 
Genoese from the island of Capraja (1767.) They even took 
possession of Ajaccio, and some other parts which the French 
had thought fit to abandon. At the same time the shipping of 
the Corsicans made incessant incursions on the Genoese, and 
annoyed their commerce. 

The Senate of Genoa, convinced at last that it was impossible 
for them to subdue the island, and seeing the time approach 
when the French troops were to take their departure, took the 
resolution of surrendering their rights over Corsica to the crown 
of France, by a treaty which was signed at Versailles (May 15, 
1768.) The King promised to restore the island of Capraja to 
to the Republic. He guaranteed to them all their possessions 
on terra fir via ; and engaged to pay them annually for ten 
years, the sum of 200,000 livres. The Genoese reserved to 
themselves the right of reclaiming the sovereignty of Corsica, 
on reimbursing the King for the expenses of the expedition he 
was about to undertake, as well as for the maintenance of his 
troops. This treaty occasioned strong remonstrances on the part 
of the Corsicans, who prepared themselves for a vigorous de- 
fence. The first campaign turned to their advantage. It cost 
France several thousand men, and about thirty millions of livres. 
The Duke de Choiseul, far from being discouraged by these dis- 
asters, transported a strong force into the island. He put the 
Count de Vaux in the place of the Marquis de Chauvelin, who, 
by the skilful dispositions which he made, found himself master 
of all Corsica, in less than two months. The Islanders not hav- 
ing received from England the supplies which they had request- 
ed, the prospect of which had kept up their courage, considered 
it rash and hopeless to make longer resistance. The different 
provinces, in their turn, gave in their submission ; and the prin- 
cipal leaders of the Corsicans dispersed themselves among the 
neighbouring States. Pascal Paoli took refuge in England. 

The throne of Poland having become vacant by the death of 



PERK D vni. A. D. 1713—1789. 379 

Augustus III. (Oct. 5, 1763,) the Empress Catherine II. des- 
dned that crown for Stanislaus Poniatowski, a Polish nobleman, 
who had gained her favour when he resided at St. Petersburgh 
as plenipotentiary of Poland. That princess having gained over 
the Court of Berlin to her interests, sent several detachments of 
troops into Poland ; and in this manner succeeded in carrying 
the election of her favourite, who was proclaimed King at the 
Diet of Warsaw (Sept. 7, 1764.) It was at this diet of election 
that the Empress formally interceded with the Republic in 
favour of the Dissidents (or dissenters) of Poland and Lithuania, 
with the view of having them reinstated in those civil and ec- 
clesiastical rights, of which they had been deprived by the in- 
tolerance of the Catholics. The name of Dissidents was then 
given in Poland to the Greek non-conformists and to the Pro- 
testants, both Lutherans and Calvinists. That kingdom, as well 
as Lithuania, had contained from the earliest ages a vast num- I j 
ber of Greeks, who persisted in their schism, in spite of the 1 1 
efforts which were incessantly made by the Polish clergy for 
bringing them back to the pale of the Romish church. The 
Protestant doctrines had been introduced into Poland, and had 
made considerable progress in course of the seventeenth cen- 
tury ; more especially under the reign of Sigismund Augustus. 
The nobles who were attached to that form of worship, had ob- 
tfined, at the Diet of Wilna (1563,) the right of enjoying, along 
with the Greeks, all the prerogatives of their rank, and of being 
admitted without distinction, both to the assemblies of the Diet, 
and the offices and dignities of the Republic. Moreover, their 
religious and political liberties had been guaranteed in the most 
solemn manner, not only by treaties of alliance, and the Pacta 
Conventa of the kings, but also by the laws and constitution of 
their kingdom. The Catholics having afterwards become the 
stronger party, their zeal, animated by their clergy and the Jesuits, 
led them to persecute those whom they regarded as heretics. 
They had in various ways circumscribed their religious liberties, 
especially at the Diet of 1717 ; and in those of 1733 and 1736, 
they went so far as to exclude them from the diets and tribunals, 
and in general from all places of trust ; only preserving the peace 
with them according to the ancient laws of the Republic. 

The Dissidents availed themselves of the influence which 
the Empress of Russia had secured in the affairs of Poland, to 
obtain by her means the redress of their grievances. That prin- 
cess interposed more especially in favour of the Greeks, accord- 
ing to the ninth article of the peace of Moscow between Russia 
and Poland (1686;) while the Courts of Berlin, Stockholm 
London, and Copenhagen, as guarantees of the peace of Oliva 



380 CHAPTER IX. 

urged the second article of that treaty in support of the Pro- 
testant dissenters. Far from yielding to an intercession so 
powerful, the Diet of Warsaw, instigated by the clergy and the 
Court of Rome, in the year 1766 confirmed all the former laws 
against the Protestants which the foreign courts had desired to 
be altered and amended. They merely introduced some few 
modifications in the law of 1717, relative to the exercise of their 
worship. 

This palliative did not satisfy the Court of St. Petersburg, 
which persisted in demanding an entire equality of rights ii) 
favour of those under its protection. The Dissidents had the 
courage to resist, and entered into a confederacy at the assem- 
blies which were held at Sluckz (1767) and Thorn. Such ol 
the Catholic nobility as were discontented with the government, 
allied themselves with the Dissidents, and formed several dis- 
tinct confederacies, which afterwerds combined into a general 
confederation under Marshal Prince Radzivij. An extraordi- 
nary Diet was then assembled at Warsaw. Their deliberations, 
which began October 5, 1767, were very tumultuous. Without 
being intimidated by the presence of a Russian army, the 
Bishop of Cracow and his adherents gave way to the full torrent 
of their zeal, in the discourses which they pronounced before 
the Diet. The Empress caused them to be arrested and con- 
ducted into the interior of Russia, whence they were not per- 
mitted to return till after an exile of several years. They agreed 
at length, at that Diet, to appoint a committee, composed of the 
different orders of the Republic, to regulate all matters regard- 
ing ihe Dissidents, in concert with the ministers of the protect- 
ing courts. A separate act was drawn up (February 24, 1768) 
in the form of a convention between Russia and Poland. 

By that act, the Dissidents were reinstated in all their former 
rights. The regulations which had been passed to their pre- 
judice in the years 1717, 1733, 1736, and 1766, were annulled; 
and a superior court, composed equally of both parties, Avas 
granted to them, for terminating all disputes which might arise 
between persons of different religions. This act was confirmed 
by the treaty of peace and alliance concluded at Warsaw be- 
tween Russia and Poland (Feb. 24, 1768,) by which these two 
powers guaranteed to each other the whole of their possessions 
in Europe. The Empress of Russia guaranteed, more especially, 
the liberty, constitution, and indivisibility of the Polish Republic. 

The act we have just now mentioned, as well as another 

which modified what were called the cardinal or fundamental 

aws of the Republic, having displeased a great majority of the 

Poles, they used every effort to have these acts recalled. The 



PERIOD VIII. A. D. 1713 17S9 



381 



Diet of 176S was no sooner terminated, than they formed them- 
selves into a confederacy at Bar in Podolia, for the defence of 
their religion and liberties. By degrees, these extended to 
several Palatinates, and were at length combined into a general 
confederation, under the Marshal Count De Pac. The standards 
of these confederates bore representations of the Virgin Mary 
and the Infant Jesus. Like the Crusaders of the middle ages, 
they wore embroidered crosses on their garments, with the motto 
Conquer or Die. The Russians despatched troops to disperse 
the confederates as fast as they combined : but at length, with 
the assistance of France, and M. De Vergennes, the French 
Ambassador at the Porte, the)' succeeded in stirring up the 
Turks against the Russians. The war between these two Em- 
pires broke out towards the end of 1768, which proved disas- 
trous for the Turks, and suppressed also the confederates in 
Poland. The manifesto of the Grand Signior against Russia 
was published October 30th, and his declaration of war Decem- 
ber 4th, 1768. 

The Empress despatched several armies against the Turks, 
and attacked them at once from the banks of the Dniester to 
Mount Caucasus, Prince Alexander Galitzin, who commanded 
the principal army, was to cover Poland, and penetrate into 
Moldavia. He passed the Dniester different times, but was al- 
ways repulsed by the Turks, who were not more fortunate in 
their attempts to force the passage of that river. On their last 
attempt (September 1769,) twelve thousand men had succeeded 
in crossing it, when there happened a sudden flood which broke 
down the bridge, and cut off the retreat of the Turks. This body 
was cut to pieces by the Russians, when a panic seized the Ot- 
toman army, who abandoned their camp and the fortress of 
Choczim. The Russians took possession of both without cost- 
ing them a single drop of bloocf, and soon after penetrated into 
the interior of Moldavia and Wallachia. 

The campaign of 1770 was most splendid for the Russians. 
General Romanzow, who succeeded Prince Galitzin in the com- 
mand of the army of Moldavia, gained two brilliant victories 
over the Turks near the Pruth (July 18,) and the Kukuli 
(August 1,) which made him master of the Danube, and the 
towns of Ismael, Kilia, and Akerman, situated in Bessarabia, 
near the mouth of that river. Another Russian army, under 
the command of General Count Panin, attacked the fortress of 
Bender, defended by a strong Turkish garrison. It was carried 
by assault (Sept. 26,) and the greater part of the garrison put to 
the sword. 

The Empress did not confine herself to repulsing^ the Turks 



382 CHAPTER IX. 

on the banks of the Dniester and the Danube, and harassing 
their commerce in the Black Sea. She formed the bold pro- 
ject of attacking them at the same time in the islands of the Ar- 
chipelago, and on the coasts of Greece and the Morea. A Rus- 
sian fleet, under the command of Alexis Orloff and Admira: 
SpiritofT, sailed from the Baltic, and passed the Northern Seas 
and the Straits of Gibraltar, on their way to the Archipelago. 
Being joined by the squadron of Rear- Admiral Elphinstone, they 
fought an obstinate battle with the fleet of the Capitan Pacha 
(July 5, 1770,) between Scio and Anatolia. The ships of the 
two commanders, Spiritoflf and the Capitan Pacha, having mec 
in the engagement, one of them caught fire, when both were 
blown into the air. Darkness separated the combatants ; but the 
Turks having imprudently retired to the narrow bay of Chisme, 
the Russians pursued them, and burnt their whole fleet during 
the night. This disaster threw the city of Constantinople into 
great consternation ; and the bad state of defence in which the 
Dardanelles were, gave them reason to fear, that if the Rus- 
sians had known to take advantage of this panic, it would have 
been easy for them to have carried the Turkish capital. Rear- 
Admiral Elphinstone, who commanded one of the Russian squad- 
rons, had suggested that advice ; but the Russian Admirals 
did not think proper to follow it. 

The war on the Danube was continued next year, though 
feebly ; but the second Russian army, under the command of 
Prince Dolgoruki, succeeded in forcing the lines at Perekop, de- 
fended by an army of 60,000 Turks and Tartars, commanded 
by the Khan of the Crimea in person. Dolgoruki, after hav- 
ing surmounted the formidable barrier, made himself master of 
the Crimea, as also of the Island of Taman ; and received from 
the Empress, as the reward of his exploits, the surname of 
Krimski. An act was signed by certain pretended deputies 
from the Tartars, by which that nation renounced the dominion 
of the Ottomans, and put themselves under the protection of 
Russia (1772.) 

These conquests, however splendid they might be, could not 
fail to exhaust Russia. Obliged frequently to recruit her ar- 
niies, which were constantly thinned by battles, fatigues, and 
diseases, she soon saw the necessity of making peace. The 
plague, that terrible ally of the Ottomans, passed from the army 
into the interior of the Empire, and penetrated as far as Mos- 
cow, where it cut off nearly 100,000 men in the course of a 
smgle year (1771.) What added still more to the embarrass- 
ments of Catherine II. was, that the Court of Vienna, which, 
m coniunction with that of Berlin, had undertaken to mediate 



t 



I 



1 



;i 



PERIOD viii. A. D. 1713— 17S9. 383 

between Russia and the Porte, rejected Avith disdain the condi* 
tions of peace proposed by the Empress. Moreover, they 
sirongiy opposed the independence of Moldavia and Wallachia, 
as well as of the Tartars ; and Avould not even permit that the 
Russians should transfer the seat of war to the right be ni<: of 
the Danube. 

The Court of Vienna went even farther : it threatened to 
make common cause with the Turks, to compel the Empress to 
restore all her conquests, and to place matters between the Rus- 
sians and the Turks on the footing of the treaty of Belgrade. 
An agreement to this effect was negotiated with the Porte, and 
signed at Constantinople ( fuly 6, 1771.) This convention, 
however, was not ratified, the Court of Vienna having changed 
its mind on account of the famous dismemberment of Poland, 
concerted between it and the Courts of Berlin and St. Peters- 
burg. The Empress then consented to restore to the Turks 
the provinces of Moldavia and Wallachia, on the conclusion of 
the peace ; and the Court of Vienna again engaged to exert its 
friendly interference in negotiating peace bet\veen Russia and 
the Porte. 

In consequence of these events, the year 1772 was passed 
entirely in negotiations. A suspension of arms was agreed to 
between the two belligerent powers. A Congress was opened at 
Foczani in Moldavia, under the mediation of the Courts of Ber- 
lin and St. Petersburg. This Congress was followed by another, 
which was held at Bucharest in Wallachia. Both of these 
meetings proved ineffectual, the Turks having considered the 
conditions proposed by Russia as inadmissible ; and what dis- 
pleased them still more was, the article relative to the indepen- 
dence of the Tartars in the Crimea. This they rejected as con- 
trary to the principles of their religion, and as tending to esta- 
blish a rivalry between the two Caliphs. They succeeded, 
however, in settling the nature of the religious dependence 
under which the Khans of the Crimea were to remain with re- 
gard to the Porte ; but they could not ])ossibly agree as to the 
surrender of the ports of Jenikaleh and Kerch ; nor as to the 
unrestrained liberty of navigation in the Turkish seas, which 
the Russians demanded. After these conferences had been re- 
peatedly broken off, hostilities commenced anew (1773.) The 
Russians twice attempted to establish themselves on the right 
bank of the Danube, but without being able to accomplish it ; 
ihey even lost a great number of men in the different actions 
which they fought with the Turks. 

The last campaign, that of 1774, Avas at length decisive. 
Abdul Hammed, Avho had just succeeded his brother Mustapha 



1 1 



II 



384 CHAPTER IX. 

III. on the throne of Constantinople, being eager to raise the 
glory of the Ottoman arms, made extraordinary preparations 
for this campaign. His troops, reckoned about 300,000 men, 
greatly surpassed the Russians in point of number ; but they 
were not equal in point of discipline and military skill. About 
the end of June, Marshal Romanzow passed the Danube, 
without meeting any obstacle from the Ottoman army. That 
General took advantage of a mistake which the Grand Vizier 
had committed, in pitching his camp near Schumla at too great 
a distance from his detachments, and cut oif his communication 
with these troops, and even with his military stores. The de- 
feat of 28,000 Turks, who were bringing a convoy of four or 
five thousand wagons to the army, by General Kamenski, 
struck terror into the camp of the Grand Vizier, who, seeing his 
army on the point of disbanding, agreed to treat with Marshal 
Romanzow on such terms as that general thought fit to pi'escribe. 

Peace was signed in the Russian camp at Kainargi, four leagues 
from Silistria. By that treaty, the Tartars of the Crimea, Boud- 
ziac,and Cuban, were declared entirely independent of the Porte, 
to be governed henceforth by their own sovereign. Russia ob- 
tained for her merchant vessels free and unrestrained naviga- 
tion in all the Turkish seas. She restored to the Turks Bes- 
sarabia, Moldavia, and Wallachia ; as well as the islands in the 
Archipelago which were still in her possession. But she re- 
served the city and territory of AzofT, the two Kabartas, the for- 
tresses of Jenikaleh and Kerch in the Crimea, and the Castle of 
Kinburn, at the mouth of the Dnieper, opposite OczakofT, Avith 
the neck of land between the Bog and the Dnieper, on which 
the Empress afterwards built a new city, called Cherson, to serve 
as an entrepSt for her commerce with the Levant. The foun- 
dation of this city was laid by General Hannibal (Oct. 19, 
1778,) on the western bank of the Dnieper, fifteen versts from 
the confluence of the Inguletz with that river. 

The House of Austria also reaped advantages from that war, 
by the occupation of Bukowina, which she obtained from Rus- 
sia, who had conquered it from the Turks. This part of Mol- 
davia, comprehending the districts of Suczawa and Czernowitz, 
was claimed by the Court of Vienna as one of its ancient ter- 
ritories in Transylvania, which has been usurped by the princes 
of Moldavia. The Porte, who Avas indebted to Austria for 
the restitution of this latter province, had no alternative but to 
abandon the districts claimed by Austria. Prince Ghikas of 
Moldavia, having opposed the cession of these provinces, was 
put to death by order of the Porte ; and Bukowina was confirm- 
ed to Austria by subsequent conventions (1776, and 1777,) 




Earthquake at Lisbon. P. 3(54. 




Engagement of the Russian and Turkish Fleets off Scio, 
1770. P. :iS2. 



PERIOD VIII. A. D. 1713 — 1789. 385 

which at the same time regulated the limits between the two 
States. The peace of Kainargi, though glorious for Russia, 
proved most calamitous for the Ottoman Porte. By establishing 
the independence of the Tartars, it lost the Turks one ot 
their principal bulwarks against Russia; and they were indig- 
nant at seeing the Russians established on the Black Sea, and 
permitted unrestrained navigation in all the Turkish seas. 
Henceforth they had reason to tremble for the safety of their 
capital, which might be assailed with impunity, and its supplies 
intercepted, on the least disturbance that might arise between the 
two Empires. 

The many disasters which the Turks had experienced in the 
war we have now mentioned, had a direct influence on the fate 
of Poland, which ended in the dismemberment of that kingdom. 
This event, which had been predicted by John Casimir in the 
seventeenth century, was brought about by the mediation of the 
Courts of Berlin and Vienna for the restoration of peace between 
Russia and Turkey. The conditions of that treaty, which were 
dictated by the Empress Catherine II., having displeased the 
Court of Vienna, which had moreover displayed hostile inten- 
tions against Russia, by despatching troops into Hungary, and' 
taking possession of a part of Poland, which Austria claimed as 
anciently belonging to Hungary, the Empress took this occasion 
of observing to Prince Henry of Prussia, who then sojourned at 
her Court, that if Austria seemed inclined to dismember Poland; 
the other neighbouring powers were entitled to do the same. 
This overture was communicated by Prince Henry to his brother 
the King of Prussia, who resolved to act on this new idea. He 
foresaw it would be a proper means for indemnifying Russia, 
contenting Austria, and augmenting his own territories, by 
establishing a communication between the kingdom of Prussia, 
and his dutchy of Brandenburg. These considerations induced 
him to set on foot a negotiation with the courts of Vienna and 
St. Petersburg. He gave the former to understand, that if war 
should break out between Austria and Russia, he could not but 
take part in it as the ally of the latter power ; while he repre- 
sented to the Empress of Russia, that if she w^ould consent to 
restore Moldavia and Wallachia to the Turks, and indemnify her- 
self by a part of Poland, she would avoid a new war, and facili- 
tate an accommodation with the Porte. In this manner did he 
succeed, after a long and difficult negotiation, in recommending 
to the two Imperial courts, a project which was to give Europe 
the example of a kingdom dismembered on mere reasons of con- 
venience. A preliminary agreement was drawn up, in which 
the equality of the respective portions of the three courts was 

25 



386 CHAPTER IX. 

assumed as the basis of the intended partition. A negotiation 
was afterwards entered into at St. Petersburg, for regulating the 
portion to be given to the Court of Vienna; as the Empress and 
the King of Prussia, had already agreed about the divisions to 
which they thought they might lay claim. ^^ 

At length the formal conventions were signed at St. Peters- 
burg, between the ministers of the three Courts (Aug. 5, 1772.) 
The boundaries of the territories and districts, which were to 
fall to the share of !]ie three powers respectively, were there 
definitively settled and guaranteed to each other. They agreed 
to defer taking possession till the month of September following, 
and to act in concert for obtaining a final arrangement with the 
Republic of Poland. The Empress engaged by the same treaty 
to surrender Moldavia and Wallachia to the Turks, in order to 
expedite the restoration of peace between her and the Porte. In 
terms of that agreement, the declarations and letters-patent of 
the three Courts, were presented at Warsaw, in September 
1772 ; and on taking possession of the territories and districts 
which had been assigned them, they published memorials for 
establishing the legitimacy of their right.", over the countries 
which they claimed. The King of Poland and his ministry, in 
vain claimed the assistance and protection of the powers that 
guaranteed the treaties. They had no other alternative left, 
than to condescend to every thing which the three courts de- 
manded. A Diet which was summoned at Warsaw, appointed 
a delegation, taken from the Senate and the Equestrian order, 
to transact with the plenipotentiaries of the three powers, as to 
the arrangements of the different treaties by which the provinces 
already occupied were to be formally ceded to them on the part 
of the Republic. These arrangements were signed at Warsaw, 
September 18, 1773, and afterwards ratified by the Diet of Poland. 

To Austria was assigned, in terms of her treaty with the Re- 
public, the thirteen towns in the county of Zips, which Sigis- 
mund. King of Hungary, had mortgaged to Poland in 1412 ; 
besides nearly the half of the Palatinate of Cracow, part of Sando- 
mire, Red Russia, the greater part of Belz, Pocutia, and part of 
Podolia. The towns in the county of Zips were again incor- 
porated with Hungary, from which they had been dismembered ; 
and all the rest were erected into a particular State, under the 
name of the kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria. One very 
important advantage in the Austrian division was, the rich salt 
mines in Wieliczka, and Bochnia, and Sambor, which furnished 
salt to the greater part of Poland. ^^ 

Russia obtained for her share, Polish Livonia, the greater 
part of Witepsk and Polotsk, the whole Palatinate of Mscislaw, 



I , 



' PERIOD vni. A. D. 17] 3— 1789. 387 

and the two extremities of the Palatinate of Minsk.^^ These 
the Empress formed into two grand governments, those of Polotsk 
and Mochilew. The King of Prussia had the states of Great 
Poland, situated beyond the Netze, as well as the whole of 
Polish Prussia, except the cities of Dantzic and Thorn, which 
were reserved to Poland. ^^ That republic, in virtue of a treaty 
with the King of Prussia, renounced also her rights of domaine, 
and the reversion which the treaties of Welau and Bidgost had 
secured to her with regard to Electoral Prussia, as well as the 
districts of Lauenburg, Butow, and Draheim. The portion of 
the King of Prussia was so much the more important in a poli- 
tical point of view, as it united the kingdom of Prussia with his 
possessions in Germany ; and, by giving him the command of 
the Vistula, it made him master of the commerce of Poland ; 
especially of the corn-trade, so valuable to the rest of Europe. 

The three courts, in thus dismembering Poland, renounced, 
in the most formal manner, all farther pretensions on the re- 
public ; and, lastly, to consummate their work, they passed an 
act at Warsaw, by which they sanctioned the liberum veto, and 
the unanimity in their decisions forinerly used at the Diet in 
state matters ; the crown was declared elective, and foreign 
princes were to be excluded. The prerogative of the King, al- 
ready very limited, was circumscribed still more by the establish- 
ment of a permanent council ; and it was statuted, that no one 
could ever change this constitution, of which the three powers 
had become the guarantees. 

[This partition of Poland must be regarded as the harbinger of 
the total overthrow of the political system which for three hun- 
dred years had prevailed in Europe. After so many alliances 
had been formed, and so many wars undertaken, to preserve the 
weaker states against the ambition of the greater, we here find 
three powers of the first rank combining to dismember a state 
which had never given them the slightest umbrage. The bar 
riers between legitimate right and arbitrary power were thus 
overthrown, and henceforth the destiny of inferior states was no 
longer secure. The system of political equilibrium became the 
jest of innovators, and many well disposed men began to regard 
it as a chimera. Though the chief blame of this transaction 
must fall on the courts of St. Petersburg, Berlin, and Vienna, 
those of London and Paris were accomplices to the crime, by 
allowing this spoliation to be consummated without any mark of 
their reprobation.] 

In Sweden, the aristocratic system had prevailed since the 
changes which had been introduced into the form of government 
t>y the revolution of 1720. The chief power resided in the body 



388 CHAPTER IX. 

of the Senate, :uid the royal authority was reduced lo a mere 
shadow. The same factions, the Hats and the Bonnets, of which 
we have spoken above, continued to agitate and distract the state. 
The Hats were of opinion, that to raise the glory of Sweden, 
and to recover the provinces of Livonia and Finland, it was ne- 
cessary to cultivate friendship with France and the Porte, in 
order to secure their support in case of a rupture with Russia. 
The Bonnets, on the other hand, maintained that Sweden, ex- 
hausted by the preceding wars, ought to engage in no under- 
taking against Russia. In preferring a system of pacification, 
they had no other object in view than to maintain peace and 
good understanding with all states, without distinction. These 
two factions, instigated by foreign gold, acquired a new impor- 
tance when the war broke out between Russia and the Porte. 
It was in the Diet of 1769 that the Hats found means to get 
possession of the government, by depriving the members of the 
opposite party of their principal employments. There was some 
reason to believe that France, in consequence of her connexions 
with the Porte, had used every effort to stir up Sweden against 
Russia, and that the mission of Vergennes, who passed from 
Constantinople to Stockholm, had no other object than this. 
Russia had then to make every exertion to raise the credit and 
influence of the Bonnets, in order to maintain peace with Swe- 
den. In these endeavours, she was assisted by the Court of 
London, who were not only willing to support the interests of 
Russia, but glad of the opportunity to thwart France in her po- 
litical career. 

The death of Adolphus Frederic, which happened in the 
meantime, opened a new field for intrigue in the Diet, which 
was summoned on account of the accession of his son and suc- 
cessor Gustavus III. (Feb. 12, 1771.) This young prince at 
first interposed between the two parties, with a view to conciliate 
them ; but with so little success, that it rather increased their 
animosity, until the Bonnets, who were supported by Russia and 
England, went so far as to resolve on the total expulsion of the 
Hats, not only from the senate, but from all other places and 
dignities in the kingdom. Licentiousness then became extreme ; 
and circumscribed as the royal power already was in the time of 
Adolphus Frederic, they demanded new restrictions to be imposed 
on his successor. The treaties that were projected with Russia 
and England, were evidently the result of the system adopted by 
that faction who had now seized the reins of government. 

In this state of affairs, the young king saw the necessity of 
attempting some change in the system of adnunistration. His 
gentleness and eloquence, and his affable and popular manners. 



PERioT) VIII. A. D. 1713 — 1789. 389 

had gained him a number of partisans. He possessed in an 
eminent degree the art of dissimulation ; and while he was 
making every arrangement for a revolution, and concerting mea- 
sures in secret with the French ambassador, he seemed to have 
nothing so much at heart as to convince the world of his sincere 
attachment to the established constitution. It is alleged, that he 
had sent emissaries over the whole kingdom to stir up the people 
against their governors ; and that he might have some pretext 
for calling out his troops, he induced Captain Hellichius, the 
commandant of Christianstadt in Blekingen, to raise the standard 
of revolt against the states who still continued their sittings at 
Stockholm. 

That officer, known afterwards by the name of G^istafsckeld, 
or the Shield of Gastavus, published at first a kind of manifesto, 
in which he reproached the States for their misconduct ; which 
he showed to have been diametrically opposite to the public in- 
terest and the laws of the kingdom. Prince Charles, the King's 
brother, who was at that time at Landscrona in Schonen, being 
informed of the proceedings of the commandant of Christianstadt, 
immediately assembled the troops in the provinces, and marched 
to that place, with the intention, as is said, of stifling the revolt 
in its birth. The news of this insurrection spread consternation 
in the capital. The States were suspicious of the King, and took 
measures to prevent the ambitious designs which they supposed 
him to entertain. Hellichius was proclaimed a rebel by the 
Senate, and guilty of high treason. They advised the King not 
to quit Stockholm, the command of which was intrusted to a 
senator, the Count of Kalling, with the most ample powers. At 
length the regiment of Upland, whose officers were devoted to 
the Senate, were ordered to the capital, with the intention, as is 
supposed, of arresting the King. That prince then saw that he 
had no longer time to delay, and that he must finish the execu- 
tion of the plan which he had proposed. 

On the morning of the 19th of August, the King presented 
himself to the troops who mounted guard at the palace ; and 
having assembled the officers, he detailed to them the unfortu- 
nate state of the kingdom, as being the consequence of those 
dissensions which had distracted the Diet for more than fourteen 
months. He pointed out to them the necessity of abolishing that 
haughty aristocracy who had ruined the state, and to restore the 
constitution to what it was before the revolution of 1680 ; ex- 
pressing at the same time his decided aversion for absolute and 
despotic power. Being assured of the fidelity of the guards, 
who were eager to take the oath of allegiance to him, he ordered 
a detachment to surround the Council Chamber where the Se- 



390 CHAPTER IX. 

nators were assembled, and put the leaders of the ruling party 
under arrest. The artillery and other regiments of guards hav- 
ing also acknowledged his authority, their example was soori 
followed by all the colleges (or public offices,) both civil and 
military. The arrest against Hellichius was revoked, and the 
regiment of Upland received orders to march back. These mea- 
sures and some others Avere executed with so much skill and 
punctuality, that the public tranquillity was never disturbed ; 
and by five o'clock in the evening of the same day, the revolu- 
tion seemed to be accomplished without shedding a single drop 
of blood. Next day, the magistrates of the city took the oath to 
the King, and the assembly of the States was summoned to meet 
on the 21st. On that day the King caused the palace to be sur- 
rounded by troops, and cannons to be pointed into the court op- 
posite the Chamber of the States. Seated on his throne, and 
surrounded by his guards, the King opened the assembly by an 
energetic discourse which he addressed to the members, in which 
he painted, in lively colours, the deplorable state of the kingdom, 
and the indispensable necessity of applying some prompt remedy. 
The new form of government which he had prepared was read 
by his orders, and adopted without opposition by the whole four 
orders of the kingdom. The king then drew a psalm-book from 
his pocket, and taking off his crown, began to sing Te Deum, in 
which he was joined by the whole assembly. Matters passed 
in the interior of the provinces with as little tumult and opposi- 
tion as in the capital and principal cities. The King's brothers 
received, in his name, the oath of fidelity on the part of the in- 
habitants and the military. 

In virtue of this new form of government, all the fundamen- 
tal laws introduced since 1680 were cancelled and abolished. 
The succession to the throne was restricted to males only. 
The lineal order, and the right of primogeniture, as settled by 
the convention of 1743, and by the decree of the Diet of 1750, 
were confirmed. The King was to govern alone, according to 
the laws ; and the Senate were to be considered as his counsel- 
lors. All the senators were to be nominated by the King, and 
matters were no longer to be decided by a plurality of votes. 
The senators were simply to give their advice, and the decision 
belonged to the King. Courts of justice, however, were ex- 
cepted. The chief command of all the forces in the kingdom, 
both by sea and land, and the supreme direction of the Exche- 
quer, were conferred on the King. On the report of the senate, 
he filled up all the high offices in the state, both military, civil, 
and ecclesiastical. He alone had the right of pardoning, and 
of summoning the States, who could never assemble on their 



PERIOD VIII. A. D. 1713— 1789. 391 

own authority, except in a case where the throne became vacant, 
by the total extinction of the royal family in the male line. The 
duration of the Diets was fixed for three months, and the King 
had the privilege of dissolving them at the end of that time. 
He could make no new laws, nor interpret the old ones, nor im- 
pose subsidies or assessments, nor declare war, without the ad- 
v'ice and consent of the States. He was allowed, however, to 
levy an extraordinary tax, in cases where the kingdom might 
be attacked by sudden invasion ; but on the termination of the 
war, the States were to be assembled, and the new tax discon- 
tinued. All negotiations for peace, truces, and alliances, whe- 
ther offensive or defensive, were reserved to the King, by whom 
they were to be referred to the Senate. If, in these cases, the 
unanimous voice of the Senate was opposed to that of the 
King, it became his duty to acquiesce in their opinion. Every 
Swedish citizen was to be judged by his natural judge. The 
King could attaint neither the life, honour, nor fortune of any 
citizen, otherwise than by the legal forms. All extraordinary 
commissions or tribunals were to be suppressed, as tending to 
establish tyranny and despotism. 

The revolution of Stockholm, of which we have just now 
spoken, had nothing in common with that which happened at Co- 
penhagen the same year ; and which, without in any way af- 
fecting the constitution of the kingdom, merely transferred the 
reins of government from the hands of the reigning Queen to 
those of the Queen-dowager.^'*- 

In a remote corner of Europe, there existed an association of 
warriors, of a kind quite peculiar, namely, that of the Zaparog 
Cossacs ; so called because they dwelt near the cataracts of the 
Dnieper, where they served as a military frontier, first to the 
Poles, and afterwards to the Russians. The chief residence of 
these Cossacs was called Setscha. It contained a considerable 
mass of houses, scattered and badly constructed, and had a 
small fort occupied by a Russian garrison. The position of 
Setscha had not always been the same ; but it was ultimately 
fixed on the western bank of the Borysthenes, opposite Kame- 
noi-Saton, an ancient fortress of the Russians, and was called 
New Setscha. These Cossacs, known in Poland by the name 
of Haydamacs, and formidable by their incursions and their de- 
vastations, had adopted a republican form of government. Their 
capital was divided into thirty Kurenes, or quarters. Every 
Cossac belonged to one of these Kurenes. There he lodged 
when he stayed at Setscha, and was obliged to conform to its 
laws. All those who belonged to the same Kurene, formed as it 
were one and the same family. Like the ancient Spartans 



392 CHAPTER nc. 

thev were nourished with the same food, and ate at the same 
tabfe. The overseer of each separate Kurene was called Ata- 
man, and the chief of all the Kurenes Koschewoi-Ataman. All 
the chie-fs, without distinction, were elected by common consent ; 
the Ataman by his own Kurene, and the Koschewoi by the 
whole Kurenes united. They were deposed whenever they be- 
came unpopular. The assemblies of Setscha were either ordi- 
nary or extraordinary. In that which was regularly held every 
year on the 1st of January, they made a formal division of the 
fields, rivers, and lakes, among the Kurenes. They made use 
of lots in order to avoid disputes ; and they renewed them every 
year, that a favourable chance might be given to all the Kurenes 
in succession. At that assembly they elected new chiefs, if they 
happened to be discontented with the old ones. As for the ex- 
traordinary assemblies, they were held when it was in agitation 
to undertake a campaign, or to make an excursion ; and gene 
rally on all occasions when the common interest seemed to re- 
quire it. They had a judge and some other officers in Setscha. 
The judge never pronounced sentence except in affairs of little 
importance. Those which appeared more v/eighty required the 
intervention of all the chiefs. They would suffer no woman to 
remain in Setscha. Those who were inclined to marry were 
obliged to remove elsewhere. To keep up their numbers the 
Zaparogs received deserters and fugitives from all nations. 
They were particularly careful to recruit their ranks with young 
boys, whom they kidnapped in their excursions ; and brought 
them up according to their customs and manner of living. 

The treaty of Andrussov between Russia and Poland had 
left these Cossacs under the common protection of those two 
States. They preferred that of Russia, and were continued 
under the dominion of that power by the peace of Moscow. 
Being afterwards implicated in the revolt of Mazeppa, they put 
themselves under the protection of the Tartars of the Crimea af- 
ter the battle of Pultowa, and transferred their capital of Setscha 
to the eastern bank of the Dnieper, nearer its mouth. Being 
discontented under the Tartars, who repressed their incursions, 
and often imposed exactions on Setscha, they took the resolution 
of putting themselves once more under the dominion of Rus- 
sia (1733.) The Empress Anne confirmed them in their pri- 
vileges, and furnished money to assist them in rebuilding their 
capital on the western bank of the Dnieper. 

As they continued, however, to commit robbery and plunder 
on the frontiers without intermission, and having neither friends 
nor allies, Catherine II. resolved to annihilate this fantastic as- 
sociation. Besides their depredations, the Zaparogs were ac- <^ 



PERIOD vm. A. D. 1713 — 17S9. 393 

cused of having' usurped possession of several countries between 
the Dnieper and the Bog; as well as of several districts which 
hari at all times belonged to the Cossacs of the Don. What 
more particularly exasperated the Empress against them, was, 
ihal bemg so obstinately attached to their absurd form of go- 
vernment, they opposed every scheme of reform, the object of 
which was to make them live in re-jular society, and in the 
bonds of matrimony ; or to induce them to form themselves into 
regiments, after the manner of the other Cossacs. They had 
also refused to send their deputies to Moscow, at the time when 
Catherine had sent for them from all parts of the Empire, for 
the formation of a new code of laws ; and there was some rea- 
son to fear they might attempt to revolt, on account of the 
changes which the Empress proposed to make in the adminis- 
tration of the government. These and other considerations in- 
duced that princess to despatch a body of troops against Setscha 
(1775.) The Zaparogs, attacked unawares, and inclosed on all 
hands, saw themselves without the means of making the least 
resistance. Their capital was destroyed, and their whole tribe 
dispersed. Those who were not inclined to embrace another 
kind of life, were sent back to their native towns and their re- 
spective countries. 

The succession of Bavaria reverted of right to the Elector 
Palatine, Charles Theodore, as head of the elder branch of Wit- 
telsbach. That prince had on his side, the Feudal Law of Ger- 
many, the Golden Bull, the peace of Westphalia, and family 
compacts frequentljr renewed between the two branches of that 
house ; all Europe was persuaded that, should the case so turn 
out, the rights of the Elector Palatine would be beyond all con- i 
troversy. Meantime, the Elector Maximilian had scarcely 
closed his eyes, when several pretenders appeared on the field, to 
dispute the succession as his presumptive heirs. The Emperor 
Joseph II. claimed all the fiefs of the Empire, which his pre- 
decessors had conferred on the house of Bavaria, without ex- 
pressly including the princes of the Palatine branch in these 
investitures. The Empress, Maria Theresa, besides the fiefs of 
the Upper Palatinate holding of the crown of Bohemia, demand- 
ed all the countries and districts of Lower and Upper Bavaria, 
as well as of the Upper Palatinate, which had been possessed by 
the Princes of Bavaria-Straubingen, who had become extinct in 
1425. She also alleged a pretended investiture, which the Em- 
peror Sigismund had granted, in 1426, to his son-in-law Duke 
Albert of Austria. The Electress-Dowager of Saxony, sister to 
the last Elector of Bavaria, thought herself entitled to claim the 
allodial succession, which she made out to be very extensive 



1 1 



394 CHAPTER IX. 

Lastly, the Dukes of Mecklenburg brought forward an ancient 
deed of reversion, which their ancestors had obtained from the 
Emperors, over the landgraviate of Leuchtenberg. * 

Before these different claims could be made known, the Aus- 
trian troops had entered Bavaria, immediately after the death of 
the late Elector, and taken possession of all the countries and 
districts claimed by the Emperor and the Empress-Queen. The 
Elector Palatine, intimidated by the Cabinet of Vienna, ac- 
knowledged the lawfulness of all the claims of that court, by a 
convention which was signed at Vienna (Jan. 3, 1778,) but which 
the Duke of Deux-Ponts, his successor and heir presumptive^ 
refused to ratify. That prince was supported in his opposition 
by the King of Prussia, who treated the pretensions of Austria 
as chimerical, and as being incompatible with the security of the 
constitution of the Germanic body. The King interposed in this 
affair, as being a guarantee for the peace of Westphalia, and a 
friend and ally of the parties concerned, who all claimed his pro- 
tection. He demanded of the Court of Vienna, that they should 
withdraw their troops from Bavaria, and restore to the Elector 
the territories of which they had deprived him. A negotiation 
on this subject was opened between the two courts, and numerous 
controversial writings were published ; but the proposals of the 
King of Prussia not proving agreeable to the court of Vienna, 
the conferences were broken off about the end of June 1778, and 
both parties began to make preparations for war. 

It was about the beginning of July when the King of Prussia 
entered Bohemia, through the county of Glatz, and pitched his 
camp between Jaromitz and Konigratz, opposite that of the Em- 
peror and Marshal Daun, from which he was only separated by 
the Elbe. Another army, composed of Prussians and Saxons, 
and commanded by Prince Henry of Prussia, penetrated into 
Bohemia through Lusatia ; but they were stopped in their march 
by Marshal Laudohn, who had taken up a very advantageous 
position, and defeated all the measures of the Prince of Prussia. 
At length a third Prussian army marched into Austria and Sile- 
sia, and occupied the greater part of that province. Europe had 
never seen armies more numerous and better disciplined, and 
commanded by such experienced generals, approach each other 
so nearly without some memorable action taking place. The 
Emperor and his generals had the good sense to act on the de- 
fensive ; while the efforts of the King of Prussia, to bring him to 
a general engagement, proved altogether unavailing. This 
prince, who had lost a great many rnen by sickness and deser- 
tion, was compelled to evacuate Bohemia about the end of Oc- 
tober, and his example was soon followed by his brother Prince 



i! 



PERIOD VIII. A. D. 1713—1789. 395 

E-Ienr}\ At the beginning of this first cannpaign, the Empress- 
Queen being desirous of peace, had sent Baron Thugut to the 
King of Prussia, to offer him new proposals. A conference was 
agreed to take place at the convent of Braunau (Aug. 1778,) 
which had no better success than the preceding, on account of 
the belligerous disposition of the Emperor, Avho was for continu- 
ing the war. At length the return of peace was brought about 
by the powerful intervention of the courts of Versailles and St. 
Petersburg. 

France, who was obliged, by the terms of her alliance with 
Austria, to furnish supplies for the Empress-Queen, could not in 
the present case reconcile this engagement with the interests of 
her crown, nor with the obligations which the treaty of West- 
phalia had imposed upon her, with respect to the Germ.anic body. 
Besides, the war which had broken out between her and England, 
on account of her alliance with the United States of America, 
made her anxious for the restoration of peace on the Continent, 
for avoiding every thing which might occasion a diversion of her 
maritime forces. The Empress of Russia, who thought her 
glory interested, could not remain a quiet spectator of a struggle 
which, if prolonged, might set all Europe in a flame. She de- 
clared to the Court of Vienna, that in consequence of the ties of 
friendship and alliance which subsisted between her and the 
Court of Berlin, she would find herself railed on to join her i | 
troops to those of Prussia, if the war was to be continued. But, j j 
before coming to that extremity, she would interpose her good i 
offices, conjointly with France, to bring existing differences to an j i 
amicable conclusion. 1 1 

The mediation of these two courts having been accepted by j I 
the belligerent powers, a congress was summoned at Teschen, in j j 
Silesia, which was opened in the month of March 1779. The j 
Empress of Russia, to give the greater weight to her interfer- | | 
ence, despat-ched a body of troops to the frontiers, destined to act j ' 
as auxiliaries under the King of Prussia, in case the war should 
happen to be renewed. Prince Repnin, Avho commanded that 
body, appeared, at the same time, in the capacity of ambassador- 
extraordinary at the Congress. France sent, on her part. Baron 
de Breteuil, her ambassador at the Court of Vienna. All things 
being already prepared, and the principal difficulties removed, 
the peace was concluded in less than two months. By this treaty, 
the convention of the 3d of January, made between the Court 
of Vienna and the Elector Palatine, was annulled. Austria was 
required to give up all her possessions in Bavaria, except the 
places and districts situated between the Danube, the Inn, and 
the Salza, which were ceded to her as all she could claim of tlie 



I I 



396 CHAPTER EC 

succession of Bavaria, v/hich she had renounced in the most for- 
mal manner. The fiefs of the Empire, which had been confer- 
red on the House of Bavaria, were secured by that treaty to the 
Elector Palatine and his whole family ; as well as those situated 
in the Upper Palatinate, and holding of the Crown of Bohemia. 

The Elector Palatine engaged to pay the Elector of Saxony, 
for his allodial rights, the sum of six millions of florins, money 
of the Empire ; while the Empress-Queen gave up to the said 
prince the rights which the crown of Bohemia had over certain 
seigniories lying Avithin Saxony, and possessed by the Counts of 
Schonburg. The Palatine branch of Birkenfeldt, whose right of 
succession to the Palatine estates had been disputed, on the 
giound of their being the issue of an unequal marriage, were 
now declared capable of succeeding to all the estates and pos- 
sessions of the House of Wittlesbach, as comp^-ehended in the 
family compacts of that house. 

The existing treaties between the Court of Vienna and the 
King of Prussia, and also those of Westphalia, Breslau, Berlin, 
and Dresden, were renewed and confirmed ; and a formal ac- 
knowledgment made to the royal line of Prussia, of their right 
to unite the margraviates of Baireuth and Anspach, failing the 
present possessors, to the hereditary succession of the Electorate 
of Brandenburg ; which right the House of Austria had called 
in question during the dispute which we have already mention- 
ed. As for the House of Mecklenburg, they granted to it the 
privilege of the non appellando, in virtue of which, no one could 
carry an appeal from the tribunals of that country to the sove- 
reign courts of the Empire. The two mediating powers under- 
took to guarantee this treaty. Thus the war for the succession 
of Bavaria was checked at its commencement. The following 
peculiarities are worthy of remark, viz. that the Palatine family, 
who were the party chiefly interested, took no share in it ; while 
Bavaria, the sole cause of the war, was no way engaged in it , 
and the Elector Palatine, who had even refused the assistance 
of the King of Prussia, was, nevertheless, the party chiefly ben- 
efited by the peace, by means of the protection of that prince. 

The House of Austria having failed, as we have just seen, in 
her project of conquering Bavaria, tried, in the next place, to 
get possession of that country by way of exchange for the Ne- 
therlands. The Elector Palatine appeared willing to meet the 
views of the Court of Vienna ; but it was not so with the Duke 
of Deux-Ponts, who haughtily opposed the exchange; while the 
King of Prussia, who supported it, was obliged to acknowledge 
that such an exchange was inadmissible, and in opposition both 
to former treaties, and to the best interests of the Germanic body 



I i 



1 I 



PERIOD vm. A. D. 1713— 17S9. 397 

The Court of Vienna then abandoned this project, at lea.st in 
appearance ; but the alarm which it had caused throughout the 
Empire, gave rise to an association, known by the name of the 
Germanic Confederation. It was concluded at Berlin (July 
23, 1785,) between the' three Electors of Saxony, Brandenburg 
and Brunswick-Luneburg ; besides several provinces of the Im 
perial State who adhered to it. This association, purely de 
fensive, had no other object than the preservation of the Ger 
manic System, with the rights and possessions of all its members 

The Revolution in North America, deserves to be placed 
among the number of those great events which belong to the 
general history of Europe; Bes'des the sanguinary war which 
it kindled between France and England, and in which Spain 
and Holland were also implicated, it may be regarded as the 
harbinger of those revolutions which took place soon after in 
several of the Continental Slates of Europe. The English 
colonies in North America were no otherwise connected with 
the mother country, than by a government purely civil, by a 
similarity of manners, and by customs, Avhich long usage had 
rendered sacred. They were divided into provinces, each ot 
which had its particular constitution more or less analogous to 
that of England, but imperfectly united with the mother coun- 
try, because the inhabitants of these provinces were not repre- 
sented in the national Parliament. If they had been so. Great 
Britain would certainly never have enjoyed that monopoly which 
she had reserved to herself, agreeably to the colonial system of 
all modern nations. The exclusive privilege of sending her 
commodities to the Americans, by fettering their industry, alien- 
ated their affections from England, and made them naturally de- 
sirous of shaking ofli' her yoke ; and this propensity coulcl not 
fail to increase, in proportion as these colonies increased in 
strength, population, and wealth. 1 1 

One consideration, however, likely to secure their allegiance, 
was the protection which England granted them against their 
powerful neighbours the French in Canada, the Spaniards in 
Florida, and the Barbarians in the West. The Canadians, es- 
pecially, proved daring and troublesome neighbours to New Eng- 
land, which rendered the assistance and protection of the mother 
country indispensable. The aspect of affairs changed at the 
time of the peace of Paris (1763.) Erwgland, by getting pos- 
session of Canada and Florida, broke the main tie which at- 
tached the colonies to her government. Delivered then from 
the terror of the French, and having no more need of foreign 
succour to protect them from their attacks, the Americans began 
to concert measures for extricating themselves from the domin- 
ion of Britain. 



! 1 



~1 



398 CHAPTER IX. 

The first disturbances ihat broke out were occasioned by the 
attempts which the British Parliament had made to impose 
taxes on the Americans. The national debt of England having 
increased considerably during the preceding war, the Parlia- 
ment thought they had a right to oblige the colonies to furnish 
their quota for the liquidation of that debt, which had been con- 
tracted, in part, for the interests of America. The Parliament 
passed an act, according to which all contracts in the American 
colonies were to be drawn upon stamped paper ; and the tax on 
the stamp was regulated according to the different objects of the 
contract. When this act had passed into a law, and was about 
to be carried into effect in America, it caused a general insur- 
rection. The people committed all sorts of excesses and abuses 
Rcrainst the Kinsf's officers. The Courts of Justice were shut 
up, and the colonies began to form associations among them- 
selves. They disputed the right of the British Parliament to 
impose taxes en them ; alleging that they were not represented 
there, and that it was the constitutional privilege of every Eng- 
lishman, not to be taxed except by means of his own represen- 
tatives. The colonies having thus attacked the sovereignty and 
legislative power of the Parliament, laid an interdict on all 
commerce with the mother country, and forbade the purchase 
of commodities imported from Great Britain. 

The Parliament rescinded the Stamp act. They published, 
however, a declaratory act which set forth, that the colonies 
were subordinate to, and dependent on, the Crown and Parlia- 
ment of Great Britain, in whom resided full power and au- 
thority to make laws and statutes binding on the colonies, in all 
possible cases. The provincial assemblies of the colonists were 
enjoined, by that act, to receive into their towns whatever num- 
ber of British troops the mother country might think proper to 
send, and to furnish them with wood and beer. Far from al- 
laying these disturbances, this new act tended, on the contrary, 
to exasperate them still more. The Americans considered it as 
tyrannical, and as having no other design than to destroy the 
foundation of their liberty, and to establish an absolute and 
despotic power. 

The British ministry made still farther concessions. They 
abandoned altogether the idea of a tax to be levied in the in- 
terior of the country, and limited themselves entirely to taxes 
or duties on imported goods. The Stamp act was replaced by 
another (1767,) which imposed certain duties on tea, paper, 
lead, and paint-colours, &c. &c. exported from England into the 
colonies. This act was no better received than its predecessor. 
The Assembly of Massachusetts, which was formed at Boston, 



TERioD viii. A. D. 1713— 1789. 390 

addressed circular letters to all the colonies, exhorting them to 
•act in concert for the support of their rights against the mother 
country. The resolutions which some of the colonies had al- 
ready adopted, of prohibiting thfi use of commodities manufac- 
tured in Great Britain, became common to all the colonies ; and 
the American merchants in general, countermanded the goods 
which they had ordered from England, Scotland, and Ireland. 
The spirit of revolt thus extending Avider and wider, the British 
government determined to employ troops for the restoration of 
order and tranquillity in the colonies, and making them respect 
the sovereignty of Great Britain (1769.) 

Affairs were in this situation when Lord North, who had been 
placed at the head of the adniinistratlon, succeeded in calming 
the minds of the colonists, by passing an act which abolished 
the obnoxious taxes, with the single exception of that on tea. 
The view of the minister in retaining this tax, was not of reap- 
ing any advantage from it ; but he hoped by this trifling duty 
to accustom the colonies to support greater taxes. The Ameri- 
cans were very sensible of this ; however, as they imported very 
little tea from England, and as the Dutch furnished them with 
this article by way of contraband, they showed no symptoms of 
resentment until the year 1773. At that time, the Parliament 
having given permission to the East India Company to export 
tea to America, of which they had large supplies in their ware- 
houses, the Americans, indignant to see this Company made the 
organ of a law which was odious to them, resolved to oppose the 
landing of these tea cargoes. Three of the Company's vessels, 
freighted with this article, having arrived at Boston, and prepa- 
ring to unload, the inhabitants boarded them during the night 
of the 21st of December, and threw all the chests into the sea, 
to the number of 342. In the other provinces, they only sent 
back the ships loaded with this obnoxious commodity. 

On the news of this outrage, the British Parliament thought 
it necessary to adopt rigorous measures. Three acts were passed 
in succession (1774,) the first to lay the port of Boston under in- 
terdict ; the second to abolish the constitution and democratic 
government of Massachusetts, and substitute a royal govern- 
ment ; and the third to authorize the colonial governors to trans- 
port to England the Americans who were accused of rebellion, 
to be tried at the Court of King's Bench. General Gage was sent 
to Boston with a body of troops and several vessels to carry these 
coercive measures into effect. By thus adopting decisive mea- 
sures, the British Parliament in vain flattered themselves, that 
they could reduce, by force, a continent so vast, and so remote 
from the mother country, as that of America. Supposing even 



I 

il 

I 



il 

J I 



400 CHAPTER IX* 

that llie}' could have succeeded, the spirit and nature of the 
English government would never have permitted them to main- 
tain their conquests by force. The colonies, however, far from 
being intimidated by these acts, warmly espoused the causf of 
the province which had been singled out for punishment. 

A general Congress, composed of the representatives of all the 
colonies, was opened at Philadelphia (Sept. 5, 1774.) They 
declared the acts of the British Parliament against Massachu- 
setts, to be unjust, oppressive, and unconstitutional. They 
agreed never more to import articles of commerce from Great 
Britain ; and to present an address to the King, and a petition 
to the House of Commons, for the redress of those grievances of 
which the colonies had to complam. This latter step having 
produced no effect, and the Parliament having still persisted in 
their rigorous measures, hostilities commenced in the month of 
April 1775. The American Congress then conferred the com- 
mand of their army on George Washington, a rich planter in 
Virginia, who had acquired considerable military reputation by 
his success in opposing the French in Canada ; and at the same 
time, to raise the immediate supplies of which the colonies stood 
in need, the Congress agreed to issue paper money, sufficient to 
meet the unavoidable expenses of the war. A declaration, pub- 
lished in the month of July, 1775, explained the reasons which 
had compelled the Americans to take up arms ; and announced 
their intention not to separate from Great Britain, nor adopt a 
system of absolute independence. But as the British Ministry 
had made extraordinary efforts for the campaign of 1776, and 
Jaken a body of German troops into their pay, the Americans 
thought proper to break off all alliance with England, that they 
night have recourse in their turn to the protection of foreigners. 

The independence of the Colonies was therefore formally de- 
clared by an Act of Congress (July 4, 1776.) They then drew 
up articles of confederation and perpetual union among the States 
of America, to the number of thirteen provinces, under the title 
of the United States of America. In virtue of this union, each 
of the States remained master of its own legislative and inter- 
nal administration, while the Congress, which was composed ol 
deputies from all the colonies, had the power of regulating all 
political affairs ; that is to say, every thing concerning war or 
peace, alliances, money matl.^rs. weights and measures, posts, 
&c. ; as well as the settlement of any differences which might 
arise between two or more of the confederate States. The first 
favourable action for the Americans, in their war against Eng- 
land, was that at Trenton on the Delav/are, (Dec. 25, 1776,) 
where General Washington surprised a body of Hessians and 




Destruction of the Bastile at Paris by the People. P. 423. 




Execution of Louis XVJ. of France. P. 429. 



PERIOD vui. A D. 1713—1789, 401 

English, and made them prisoners. But the event which in 
some degree set the seal to the independence of America, was 
the important check which General Burgoyne met with near 
Saratoga. Having advanced from Canada to support the opera- 
tions of General Howe, who was marching on Philadelphia, he 
was compelled by the American troops under General Gates to 
lay down his arms, by a capitulation which was signed in the 
camp at Saratoga (Oct. 16, 1777.) The news of this disaster 
was no sooner received in Europe, than France, who, during 
the time that England was occupied with the disturbances in 
America, had put her marine on a respectable footing, took the 
resolution of acknowledging the New Republic, and entered into 
d formal alliance with it. Treaties of friendship, alliance, and 
commerce, were concluded at Paris between them and the Uni- 
ted States of America (Feb. 6, 1778.) France demanded as a 
primary condition, that the United States should not lay down 
their arms, until England had acknowledged their independence. 
I'he notification which the Court of France made to that of Lon- 
don of this treaty with the United States, became the signal of 
war between these two nations. 

This war which France had undertaken against England for 
the free navigation of the seas, was the first which did not in- 
volve the continent of Europe, as it was confined entirely to 
maritime operations. The European powers, far from thwart- 
ing France in this enterprise, applauded her success ; and while 
Great Britain depended on her own strength, and had not a sin- 
gle ally on the Continent, France contrived to interest Spain 
and Holland in her cause. 

Spain, after having for some time held the rank of a media- 
ting power, entered into the war in fulfilment of those engage- 
ments which she had contracted, by the Family Compact; and 
as respected Holland, England had determined to break with 
her. The British ministry were offended at that Republic, which, 
instead of granting England the supplies that she was entitled 
to claim in virtue of former treaties, had lent itself an accomplice 
to the interests of her enemies. The Dutch, on their side, com- 
plained of the multiplied vexations with which they were inces- 
santly harassed by the British privateers. They had sought 
to protect themselves against these, under the shield of that 
armed neutrality which the Empress of Russia had just negoti- 
ated for protecting the commerce of neutral States ; and it was 
in order to prevent their accession to that neutrality, that Eng- 
land made such haste to declare war against the Republic (Dec. 
20, 1780.) 

Without entering here into the details of that war, the prin- 

26 



402 CHAPTER li. 

cipal scene of which was in America, though it extended lo 
Africa and the Indies, we shall con^ne ourselves to a few gen- 
eral observations. 

When hostilities commenced between France and England, 
the latter had a very great superiority in maritime strength. She 
had armies at the two extremities of the globe. The number of 
her vessels was prodigious. Her arsenals were overloaded with 
stores. Her dock-yards were in the greatest activity ; but after 
France and Spain had united their naval force, it was no longer 
possible for Great Britain, obliged as she was to divide her 
strength, to defend her distant possessions against the numerous 
attacks of the French and their allies. Not fewer than twenty- 
one engagements took place between the belligerent powers ; in 
all of which England, from the experience of her Admirals, and 
the ability of her naval officers, did not lose a single ship of the 
line. The first naval action was fought near Ushant (July 27, 
1778,) between D'Orvilliers and Admiral Keppel. This action, 
the glory of which was claimed equally by both nations, was as 
indecisive as most of those which followed it. The only decisive 
actior, properly speaking, was that which Admiral Rodney fought 
with Count de Grasse (April 12, 1782,) between the islands of 
Dominica and Saintes. The English Admiral having broken 
the French line, succeeded in taking five ships of the line, inclu- 
ding the Admiral's, and had the honour to carry him prisoner 
to London. 

At the beginning of the war, the English stripped the French 
of their possessions in the East Indies, such as Pondicherry, 
Chandernagore, and Mahe. They took from them the islands 
of St. Peter and Miquelon, as well as that of St. Lucia, and 
Gorea on the coast of Africa. The French afterwards repaid 
themselves for these losses, by conquering the islands of Domin- 
ica, St. Vincent, Grenada, Tobago, St. Christophers, Nevis and 
Monteserrat. All the forts and establishments of the English 
on the Senegal in Africa, as well as Gondelore in the East In- 
dies, fell into their possession. 

The Spaniards made themselves masters of the fortfj which 
the English occupied on the Mississippi. They took fort Mo- 
bile or Conde, in ancient French Louisiana, and subdued the 
whole of Western Florida, with the town of Pensacola. In 
Europe they recovered, with the assistance of the French, the 
island of Minorca, with port Mahon and fort St. Philip ; but the 
combined forces of the two nations failed in their enterprise 
against Gibraltar. This place, which was bravely defended by 
General Elliot, was twice relieved with supplies by the English 
fleet — first by Admiral Rodney (1780,) and afterwards by Lord 



! I 



'1 
I 



PERIOD VIII. A. D. 1713 — 1789. 403 

Howe (1782.) The floating batteries invented by M. D'Ar<jon, 
which were directed against the garrison, were destroyed by ihn 
red-hot bullets which the English commander showered upon 
them in great profusion. It was chiefly this obstinate determi- 
nation of the Spaniards to recover the rock of Gibraltar, that for 
a long time deprived France and Spain of the advantages which 
ought to have accrued to them from the combination of their 
naval strength against Great Britain. As for the Dutch, they 
experienced heavy losses in this war ; their islands of St. Eu- 
statia, Saba, and St. Martin in the Antilles, were seized by the 
English, who carried off immense booty. Besides their esta- 
blishments of Demarara and Essequibo in Guiana, those which 
they had on the Malabar and Coromandel coasts, especially Ne- 
gapatam and Trincomalee, on the coasts of Ceylon, were reduced 
in succession. The French succeeded, however, in reconquer- 
ing the Dutch Antilles, and the fortress of Trincomalee. 

In North America, the success of the war was for a long time 
equally balanced between the English and the Americans. At 
length Lord Cornwallis, after having conquered the two Carolinas, 
advanced into Virginia. He took York Town and Gloucester ; 
but having penetrated into the interior of that province. Generals 
Washington, Rochambaud, and La Fayette, turned their forces 
against him, and were supporred in this attack by a French fleet, 
which the Count de Grasse had brought to their aid. Lord 
Cornwallis, surrounded on all sides, and shut up in York Town, 
was obliged to capitulate (Oct. 19, 1781,) and surrendered him- 
self and his whole army prisoners of war. This event decided 
the fate of America. The news of it no sooner arrived in 
England, than a change took place in the British ministry. 
Lord North and his colleagues resigned, and were replaced 
by the members of the opposite party. The new ministry 
attempted to negotiate a special peace, either with the Ameri- 
cans or with the Dutch ; but their efforts having proved unsuc- 
cessful, they adopted the alternative of recognising the inde- 
pendence of America, and then entered into a negotiation with 
France. A conference was opened at Paris, under the media- 
tion of Joseph II. and the Empress of Russia. It continued from 
the month of October 1782, till September 1783, when definitive 
treaties of peace were signed at Paris and Versailles between 
Great Britain, France, Spain, and the United States of America. 
The conclusion of the treaty between England and Holland did 
not take place till the 20th May 1784. 

In virtue of these treaties, the independence of the Thirteen 
United States of America was acknowledged by England ; and 
the boundaries of the respective possessions of the two powers 



404 CHAPTEB rx. 

were regulated over the whole extent of North America. A 
territory of vast extent was assigned to the United States, who 
also obtained the right of fishing on the banks of Newfoundland, 
and in all other places where fishing had till then been practised. 

The French fisheries at Newfoundland, were settled in a man- 
ner more advantageous than by the former treaties. The Islands 
of St. Peter and Miquelon were ceded with full privileges to 
France. In the Antilles, France retained St. Lucia and Toba- 
go, restoring to England Grenada and the Grenadines, St. Vin- 
cent, Dominica, St. Christopher, Nevis, and Montserrat. In 
Africa, the forts and settlements on the Senegal remained in 
the possession of France, and the island of Gorea was restored 
to her. In the East Indies, all the French settlements such as 
Chandernagore, Pondicherry, and Mahe, were restored, and Eng- 
land engaged to make some additions to Pondicherry. The 
clauses in the former treaties relative to Dunkirk were abolished. 
The island of Minorca in the Mediterranean, and the whole of 
Florida in America, were ceded to Spain, who restored to Eng- 
land the islands of Providence and Bahama ; and moreover 
granted the English the liberty of cutting logwood or dyewood 
in certain places on the Bay of Honduras. Finally, Holland 
ceded Negapatam to England, and granted to British subjects a 
free trade in the Indian Seas, where the Dutch had till that time 
maintained an exclusive commerce and navigation. 

Such is an outline of the treaties of Paris and Versailles, 
which terminated the American war. France thereby main- 
tained the balance of maritime power against England, whose 
vast naval superiority had alarmed all the commercial States of 
Europe. [It is true that this advantage was of short duration, 
as the English recovered their superiority, and during the French 
Revolution, carried it to a pitch which it had never before reach- 
ed ; besides, their commerce suffered no check by the loss of 
their extensive colonies. The growing industry of the new Re- 
public had more need than ever to be supported by all the capi- 
tal and credit which the merchants could find in the mother 
country.] France acquired the glory of having contributed, by 
her efforts, to establish the new Republic of the United States, 
which, by the vast extent of its territory, the progressive increase 
of its population, its industry, and its commerce, must exercise, 
in course of time, a prodigious influence on the destinies of 
Europe. 

One memorable event, which has some reference to the Amer- 
ican war, was the confederacy of the Northern powers, under the 
title of the Armed Neutrality. That Avar, which was purely 
maritime, having given an astonishing alacrity to the commerce 



PERIOD vm. A. D. 1713—1789. 405 

of the North, by the demand which the belligerent powers made 
for wood for ship building and naval stores of all kinds, England, 
ill order to prevent the French and Spaniards from procuring 
these commodities in the North, took advantage of her maritime 
superiority, by seizing, without distinction, all merchant vessels 
under a neutral flag ; and confiscating all articles found on 
board, belonging to the subjects of hostile countries. Tlie Em- 
press of Russia, wishing to put a stop to these depredations, re- 
solved to protect by force of arms, the commercial interests of her 
subjects. By a manifesto which she addressed to France and 
England (February 1780,) she informed these powers, that it 
was her intention to maintain free intercourse for all effects 
which might belong to the subjects of those nations at war ; ex- 
cepting only genuine warlike stores, such as powder, balls, and 
cannon, and in general, whatever might be reputed contraband 
goods ; in virtue of the 10th and 11th articles of her commercial 
treaty with Great Britain (1766.) She did not rest satisfied 
with making this declaration herself. She engaged Sweden 
and Denmark to publish similar ones ; and entered into a con- 
tract with those powers, for the purpose of protecting the navi- 
gation of their subjects by means of convoys, and for rendering 
each other mutual assistance in case of any insult offered to 
their merchantmen. The Court of Copenhagen declared more 
especially (Aug. 10, 1780,) that the Baltic, by its local situation, 
being a shut sea, no ships of war belonging to the belligerents 
could be admitted there, or allowed to commit hostilities against 
any one whomsoever. Several of the Continental powers, such 
as the King of Prussia, the Emperor Joseph II., the Queen of 
Portugal, and the King of the Two Sicilies, joined the Armed 
Neutrality, on the principles established in the declaration of 
the Empress of Russia. France and Spain applauded these 
measures, and the principles which the Empress had thus sanc- 
tioned. England dissembled, pretending to refer to treaties, 
and to wait a more favourable opportunity for explanation. But 
in order to prevent the Dutch from taking shelter under the 
armed neutrality, she declared war against that Republic, even 
before the act of her accession to these treaties had been ratified 
by the powers of the North. 

New disputes had arisen between the Russians and the Turks 
after the peace of Kainargi. The haughtiness of the Porte was 
unwilling to admit the independence of the Tartars, which was 
sanctioned by that peace. He was indignant to see the Russians 
parading their flag even under the walls of Constantinople ; and 
moreover, he tried every stratagem to elude the execution of 
those articles in the treaty which did not meet v/ith his approba- 



I I 

! I 



406 CHAPTER rx. 

tion. Russia, on her part, who regarded the independence of 
the Crimea as a step towards the execution of her ambitious pro- 
jects, expelled the Khan Dowlat Gueray, who was favourably 
inclmed towards the Porte, and put Sahin Gueray in his place, 
who was devoted to the interests of Russia. This lattor having 
been dispossessed by Selim Gueray, with the assistance of the 
Porte, the Empress marched a body of troops into the Crimea, 
under the command of Siiwarow (1778,) and restored her pro- 
tege to the throne by force of arms. 

The Turks made great preparations for war, and a new rup- 
ture between the two empires was expected, when, by the inter- 
position of M. de St. Priest, the French ambassador to the Turk- 
ish Court, the Divan consented to an accommodation which was 
concluded at Constantinople (March 21, 1779,) under the name 
of the Explicative Convention. The independence of the Cri- 
mea, and the sovereignty of Sahin Gueray, were thereby acknow- 
ledged, and confirmed anew. Russia and the Porte engaged to 
withdraw their troops from that peninsula, as well as from the 
island of Taman. The Porte promised especially never to al- 
lege any pretexts of spiritual alliance, for interfering with the 
civil or political power of the Khans. The free intercourse be- 
tween the Black Sea and the White Sea, was secured in the most 
express manner to all Russian vessels that were of the form, size, 
and capacity, of the ships of other nations who carried on trade 
in the ports of Turkey. 

This convention did not restore any permanent good under- 
standing between the two Empires ; new troubles were not long 
in springing up again in the Crimea. The Khan Sahin Gueray 
was once more expelled h^ the party adhering to the Turks 
(1782.) A Russian army immediately entered that peninsula, 
and restored the fugitive Khan ; while a Russian fleet sailing 
from the port of Azoff, cut off the malecontents from all commu- 
nication with Constantinople. Under these circumstances, the 
Empress Catherine II. thought the moment had arrived for pla- 
cing the Crimea among the number of her own provinces. She 
caused her troops to occupy that peninsula, as well as the whole 
of Cuban ; and expelled the Turks from Taman, of which they 
had made themselves masters, with the view of opening a com- 
munication with the Tartars. Finally, she explained, in a man- 
ifesto, the motives which induced her to unite the Crimea to her 
Empire, together with the isle of Taman, and the Cuban, and 
required Sahin Gueray formally to resign the sovereignty which 
he had enjoyed for so" short a time (June 28, 1783.) 

That event was a terrible blow to the Ottoman Porte. The 
inhabitants of Constantinople loudly demanded war ; but the 



jptRioD VIII. A. D. 1713 — 1789. 407 

Divan, who were sensible of their weakness, used every endea- 
vour to avoid it. The preparations of the Eussians both by sea 
and land, were immense ; and there subsisted a co-operation and 
a perfect intimacy between the Courts of Vienna and St. Peters- 
burg. England tried in vain to engage the Turks to take up 
arms, but they were withheld by France and Austria. Instead 
of fighting, they Avere resolved to negotiate ; and a new treaty 
was signed at Constantinople (Jan. 8, 1784.) The sovereignty 
of the Crimea, the island of Taman, and all the part of Cuban 
which lay on the right bank of the river of that name, and form- 
*ed, as it were, a frontier between the two Empires, were aban- 
doned to Russia. The fortress of Oczakoff, to which the Tar- 
tars of the Crimea had some claims, was ceded to the Porte, 
with its whole territory. Thus ended the dominion of the Tar- 
tars in the Crimea, once so terrible to Russia. The Empress 
formed the whole of that vast country into two new govern- 
ments, Taurida and the Caucasus. 

There had existed for a long time certain disputes between 
the Dutch and the government of the Austrian Netherlands, as 
to the execution of the Barrier Treaty (1715,) and that of the 
Hague (1718.) They had neglected to define precisely the 
limits of Dutch Flanders, which these treaties had pointed out 
rather than determined ; and for a long time the Imperial Court 
had ceased to pay the Dutch the subsidies which the Barrier 
Treaty had stipulated in their favour. That court would not 
consent to agree to a definitive settlement of these limits, or the 
payment of the subsidies, until England and Holland should co 
operate with her in repairing the Barrier towns, whose fortifica- 
tions had been ruined during the war of the Austrian Succes- 
sion. She demanded, also, that these powers should unite for 
concluding a treaty of commerce, and a tariff favourable for the 
Low Countries, as they had engaged to do by former treaties. 
At length the Emperor Joseph II. thought he might avail him- 
self of the war which had arisen between England and Holland, 
to free the Austrian Netherlands entirely from the claims which 
the Barrier Treaty had imposed on them. The order for de- 
molishing all the fortified places in the Netherlands compre- 
hended the Barrier towns ; and the Dutch were summoned to 
withdraw their troops from them. These republicans, not be- 
ing able to solicit the protection of England, with which they 
were at war, found themselves obliged to comply with the sum- 
mons of the Emperor. Their troops then evacuted all the Bar- 
rier towns in succession. 

This compliance on the part of the Dutch, encouraged the 
Emperor to extend his pretensions still farther. Not content 



408 CHAPTER IX. 

with annulling the treaties of 1715 — 18, he required that the 
boundaries of Flanders should be re-established on the footing 
of the contract of 1664, between Spain and the States-General ; 
and instead of making his new demand a subject of negotiation, 
he took possession of the forts, as well as of the towns and dis- 
tricts included within the limits which had been fixed by this 
latter agreement. The Dutch having addressed their com- 
plaints to the Court of Vienna against these violent proceedings^ 
the Emperor consented to open a conference at Brussels (1784,) 
for bringing all these disputes to an amicable termination. He 
declared, at the opening of the meeting, that he would desist from 
all the claims which he had against the Republic, provided they 
would grant the Belgic provinces the free passage and naviga- 
tion of the Scheldt ; with the privilege of direct commerce with 
India, from all the ports in the Netherlands. But while proposing 
this state of things as the subject of negotiation, he announced, 
that from that moment he was firmly resolved to consider the 
Scheldt as free ; and that the least opposition, on the part of the 
States-General, would be, in his eyes, as the signal of hostili- 
ties, and a declaration of war. The Dutch, without being in- 
timidated by these threats, declared the demand of the Emperor 
to be contrary to their treaties, and subversive of the safety 
and prosperity of their Republic. Vice-Admiral Reynst was 
ordered to station himself, with a squadron, at the mouth of the 
Scheldt, and to prevent all Imperial or Flemish ships from pass- 
ing. Tv/o merchantmen having attempted to force the passage, 
the Dutch gave them a broadside, and obliged them to strike. 

The Emperor then regarded the war as declared, and broke 
off the conference at Brussels ; he had, however, made no pre- 
parations ; and the Low Countries were entirely divested of their 
troops, magazines, and warlike stores. The prince had flatter- 
ed himself, that the Court of France would espouse his quarrel, 
and that he would obtain from them the supplies stipulated by 
the treaty of Versailles. But France, who was then negotiating 
a treaty of alliance with the Republic, easily foresaw, that if she 
abandoned them at that particular time, they would be obliged 
to throw themselves into the arms of England. M. de Maille- 
bois then got orders to pass to Holland, while France set on foot 
two armies of observation, one in Flanders, and the other on the 
Rhine. The King wrote to the Emperor very pressing letters, 
wishing him to adopt pacific measures. 

These proceedings and the numerous difficulties which the 
war of the Netherlands presented to the Emperor, induced him 
to accept the mediation of the Court of Fjance ; a negotiation 
on this subject was entered into at Versailles. The Emperor 



PERIOD VIII. A. 1). 1713—1789. 409 

there persisted at first in maintaining the liberty of the Scheldt, 
but afterwards became less rigid on this point. He was con- 
tent to enforce his other claims. This negotiation was as tedi- 
ous as it was intricate. It occupied the French ministry dur- 
ing the greater part of the year 1785. The Emperor insisted 
much on the cession of Maestricht, and the territory of Outre- 
Meuse. From this demand he would not recede, except on the 
payment of a large sum of money by way of indemnity, and 
another in reparation of the damage Avhich the inundation of 
Flanders, ordered by the States-General, had occasioned to his 
Austrian subjects. Bj the peace which was signed at Fontain- 
bleau, the treaty of Munster (164S) was renewed; but nothing 
was said of the Barrier treaty, nor of that of Vienna (1731.) 
They agreed on shutting the Scheldt from Saftingen, as far as 
the sea ; as well as the Canals of Saas, Swin, and other com- 
munications with the sea in the neighbourhood. The States- 
General engaged to pay the Emperor, in lieu of his claims on 
Maestricht and the Outre-Meuse, the sum of 9,500,000 Dutch 
florins ; and another of 500,000 florins for repairing the damages 
done by the inundations. That Prince got ample satisfaction 
on the subject of most of his other claims ; and France under- 
took to guarantee the treaty. Immediately after it was signed, 
they renewed the negotiation respecting the treaty of alliance 
projected between France and the Republic. This treaty was 
also signed at Fontainbleau (Nov. 10, 1785) two days after the 
treaty of peace. 

Various intestine disturbances at that time agitated the Repub- 
lic of the United Provinces. The animosity of the Republican 
party against the Stadtholder and his partisans, had been re- 
vived more keenly than ever, on account of the war in Ame- 
rica between France and England. The Republicans reproach- 
ed the Stadtholder for his devotedness to the interests of Eng 
land, which had made him neglect their marine, and fail in the 
protection which he owed the Dutch commerce, in his capacity 
of Admiral-General of the forces of the Republic. The dif- 
ferent magistrates of the municipal towns, in order to discredit 
the Stadtholder in the opinion of the public, encouraged peri- 
odical writers to inveigh against the person of William V. and 
nis administration. They blamed his counsellors, and especially 
Louis Duke of Brunswick, who, as governor to the Stadtholder 
during his minority, had had the principal direction of affairs, 
and who still continued to aid him with his councils. 

The city of Amsterdam, which had always been distinguish- 
ed for its opposition to the Stadtholder, was the first that de- 
manded the removal of the Duke, whom they blamed as the 



410 CHAPTER IX. 

cause of the languid state of their maritime power. That 
prince Avas compelled to resign, (1784,) and even to withdraw 
from the territories of the Republic. The retirement of the Duke 
emboldened the opponents of the Stadtholder, who soon went be- 
yond all bounds. That party, purely aristocratic in its origin, had 
been afterwards reinforced by a multitude of democrats, who, 
not contented with humbling the Stadtholder, attacked even 
the power of the magistrates ; and tried to change the constitu- 
tion, by rendering the government more popular and democratic. ■ 
In the principal towns, associations were formed under the \ 
name of Free Bodies, for exercising the citizens in the manage- 
ment of arms. The party opposed to the Stadtholder took the 
name of Patriots. They were secretly supported by France, 
who wished to employ them as an instrument for destroying the \ 
influence of England, and attaching the Republic to her own ; 
interests. A popular insurrection, which happened at the Hague \ 
(1785,) furnished the States of Holland with a pretext for re- i 
moving the Stadtholder from the command of that place, which ' 
was intrusted to a Council. This blow, struck at a prerogative 
which was regarded as inherent in the Stadtholdership, induced 
the Prince of Orange to quit the Hague, and fix his residence 
in the province of Guelders, the States which were most par- 
ticularly devoted to him. An attack which the prince made 
against the towns of Elburg and Hattem, for refusing to ex- 
ecute the orders which he had intimated to them in the name 
of the States of Guelders, exasperated the minds of the Dutch 
It added to the strength of the Patriotic party, and encouraged 
the States of Holland to make a renewed attack on the Stad- 
tholdership ; and even to go so far as to suspend the prmce from 
the functions of Captain-General of that province. 

The Court of Berlin had taken measures, both with the | 
States-General and the province of Holland, to facilitate an ac- | 
commodation between the two parties. Frederic William II. | 
who succeeded his uncle Frederic the Great, (1786,) sent to the i 
Hague, with this view, the Count de Gortz, his minister of state ; | 
while M. Gerard de Rayneval was ordered to repair thither on 
the part of France. A negotiation was opened between these 
two ministers and the principal leaders of the Patriotic party, 
but without effect. Their animosities rather increased, and the 
Patriots broke out into every kind of violence. They dismis- 
sed the magistrates of the chief towns by force, and replaced 
them by their own adherents ; a step which obliged the aristo- 
crats to coalesce with the Stadtholder's party, in order to with- 
stand the fury of the republicans. A civil war seemed *;o all 
appearance inevitable. In this state of matters, the Princess of 



PERIOD vm. A. n. 1713 — 1789. 411 

Orange took the resolution of repairing in person to the Hague^ 
with the design, as she alleged, of endeavouring to restore 
peace. She was arrested on her route by a detachment of the 
republican corps of Gouda (June 28, 1787,) and conducted to 
Schoenhoven, whence she was obliged to return to Nimeguen, 
without being able to accomplish the object of her journey. 

The King of Prussia demanded satisfaction for this outrage 
offered to his sister. The States of Holland, not feeling dis- 
posed to give it in the terms which the King demanded, he sent 
a body of 20,000 men to Holland, under the command of the 
Duke of Brunswick, who, in the space of a month, made him- 
self master of the whole country, and even obliged the ciiy of 
Amsterdam to submit. All the former resolutions Avhich'had 
been taken for limiting the poAver of the Stadtholder, were then 
annulled, and the prince was re-established in the plenitude of 
his rights. 

Although the subsistence of the alliance between France and 
the Republic was obviously connected with the cause of the 
Patriots, the former took no steps to support that party, or to 
oppose the invasion of the Prussians. France had even the 
weakness to negotiate with the Court of London, for disarming 
their respective troops ; declaring, that she entertained no hos- 
tile intentions relative to what had passed in Holland. The po- 
litics of the States-General from that time, underwent a com- 
plete revolution. Renouncing their alliance with France, they 
embraced that of Prussia and Great Britain. By the treaties 
which were signed at Berlin and the Hague (April 1-5, 1788,) 
these two powers undertook to guarantee the resolutions of 
1747 and 1748, which made the Stadtholdership hereditary 
in the House of Orange. France thus shamefully lost the 
fruits of all the measures which she had taken, and the sums 
which she had lavished for attaching Holland to her federative 
system, in opposition to England. 

The troubles which we have just now mentioned were soon 
followed by others, which the innovations of the Emperor Jo- 
seph II. had excited in the Austrian Netherlands. The differ- 
ent edicts which that Prince had published since the first of 
January 1787, for introducing a new order of administration in 
the Government, both civil and ecclesiastical, of the Belgic pro- 
vinces, were regarded by the States of that country as contrary 
to the established constitution, and incompatible with the en- 
gagements contracted by the sovereign on his accession. The 
great excitement which these innovations caused, induced the 
Emperor to recall his edicts, and to restore things to their an- 
cient footmg. Nevertheless, as the public mind had been exas- 



412 CHAPTEK IX. 

perated on both sides, disturbances were speedily renewed. The 
Einpcror having demanded a subsidy, which was refused by the 
Slates of Brabant and Hainauh, this circumstance induced him 
to revoke the amnesty which he had granted ; to suppress the 
States and Sovereign Council of Brabant ; and to declare, that 
he no longer considered himself bound by his Inaugural Con- 
tract. A great number of individuals, and several members of 
the States, were arrested by his orders. The Archbishop of 
Mechlin, and the Bishop of Antwerp, were suspected of having 
fomented these disturbances, and saved themselves by flight. 

Two factions at that time agitated the Belgic Provinces, where 
they fanned the flame of civil discord. The one, headed by Vonk, 
an advocate, and supported by the Dukes of Ursel and Arem- 
berg, inclined to the side of Austria. These limited their de- 
mands to the reformation of abuses, and a better system of re- 
presentation in the States of the Netherlands. The other, under 
the direction of Vandernoot, and the Pensionary Vaneupen, 
»vhile adhering to the support of the ancient forms, pretended to 
vest in the States, that sovereignty and independence of which 
they wished to deprive the House of Austria. The partisans of 
Vonk hoped to effect, by their own means, the reforms which 
they had in view ; while the adherents of Vandernoot founded 
their hopes on the assistance of foreigners — especially of Prussia, 
who would not fail, they supposed, to seize this occasion of weak- 
ening the power of Austria. This latter party had undertaken 
to open an asylum for the discontented emigrants of Brabant, in 
the territory of the United Provinces in the neighbourhood ot 
Breda. The two parties acted at first in concert. Vandermersch, 
a native of Menin in Flanders, and formerly a Colonel in the 
Austrian service, was proposed by Vonk, and received as Gen- 
eral by both parties. A body of the insurgents, under the com- 
mand of Vandermersch, marched to Turnhout in Brabant, and 
repulsed the Austrians, who had come to attack them under the 
ortiers of General Schroeder. This first success gave a stimu- 
lus to the insurrection, which spread from Brabant over the other 
Belgic provinces. The Austrians abandoned by degrees all the 
principal towns and places, and retired to the fortress of Luxem- 
burg. Vandernoot made his triumphant entry into Brussels. 
The States of Brabant assembled in that city, and proclaimed 
their independence (Dec. 29, 1789.) The Emperor Joseph II. 
was declared to have forfeited the sovereignty, by having viola- 
ted the engagements which he had come under by his Inaugural 
Compact. 

The example of Brabant was soon followed by the other pro- 
vinces. An assembly of Deputies, from all the Belgic provinces 



PERIOD VIII. A. D. 1713—1789. 413 ! 

wtis formed at Brussels (Jan. 11, 1790.) They signed an Act. 
by which these proA'inces joined in a confederacy, under the title 
of the United Belgic States. The rights of sovereignty, in as 
far as regarded their common defence, Avere A'^ested in a Con- 
gress, composed of deputies from the different provinces, under 
the name o( the Sovereign Co?igress of the Belgic States. Each 

{)rovince preserved its independence, and the exercise of the 
egislative poAA'er. Their union Avas declared permanent and 
irrevocable. They meddled neither with religion nor the con- 
stitution, and they admitted no other representatives than those 
who had been already nominated. This latter determination 
highly displeased General Vandermersch, and all those of Vonk's 
party, Avho had as much horror for an oligarchy in the States as 
for the despotism of the Court of Vienna. The party of the 
States prevailed nevertheless by the influence of Vandernoot, 
and the instigations of the priests and monks. Vandermersch, 
and all the zealous partisans of reform, Avere removed from the 
management of aflfairs. The former was even arrested, and 
General Schonfield put in his place. Ruinous impeachments 
and imprisonments were the consequences of this triumph of the 
aristocratic faction. 

These divisions, added to the death of Joseph II., Avhich hap- 
pened in the meantime, produced a change favourable for the 
interests of the Coitrt of Vienna. Leopold II., Avho succeeded 
his brother on the throne of Austria, seemed disposed to termi- 
nate all these diflferences ; and the Belgic Congress, seeing they 
could not reckon on the assistance of foreign poAvers, Avere also 
desirous of coming to an accommodation. The Court of Berlin 
had refused its protection to the Belgians, and that of London 
was decidedly opposed to their independence. These two courts, 
conjunctly with the United Provinces of the Netherlands, inter- 
posed their mediation for allaying those disturbances. The 
Emperor Leopold solemnly engaged, under the guarantee of the 
three mediating poAvers, to govern the Netherlands agreeably to 
the constitution, laAVS, and privileges Avhich had been in force 
under the Empress Maria Theresa ; never to do any thing to 
their prejudice ; and to annul Avhatever had been done to the 
contrary under the reign of Joseph II. A declaration published 
by Leopold (Nov. 1790,) enjoined all his Belgic subjects to take 
anew the oath of allegiance. That Prince granted a general 
and unconditional pardon to all those Avho should lay doAvn their 
arms within a given time. All the provinces in succession ac- 
knoAvledged their allegiance. Brussels opened her gates to the 
Austrian troops (Dec. 2, 1790,) and the patriots Vaneupen and 
Vandernoot took refuge in Holland. 



4i4 CHAPTER IX. 

The animosity which had for a long time subsisted betwetn 
Russia and the Porte, occasioned a new war between these two 
powers in 1787. The Turks could not endure the humiliating 
conditions which the late treaties with Russia had imposed on 
them. The high tone which the Court of St. Petersburg used 
in their communications with the Porte, wounded the pride of 
the Ottomans ; and the extraordinary journey of the Empress 
to Cherson and the Crimea (May 1787,) in which she was ac- 
companied by the Emperor Joseph II., created alarm even in 
the city of Constantinople. The inhabitants of that capital 
thought they could perceive, in that journey, a premeditated de- 
sign in the Courts of St. Petersburg and Vienna to annihilate 
the Ottoman Empire, and divide the spoil between them. The 
Court of London, supported by that of Berlin, dexterously fanned 
the spark which lay concealed under these ashes. They wish- 
ed to be avenged on the Court of St. Petersburg for the difficul- 
ties which she had thrown in the way of renewing their treaty 
of commerce ; as well as the advantageous conditions which she 
had granted to France by the commercial treaty concluded with 
' ! that power. The great activitj'^ with which Russia had carried 
; I on her commerce in the Black Sea, since she had obtained en- 
i I tire liberty by her treaties with the Porte, excited likewise the 
jealousy of England, who was afraid that the commercial con- 
nexions which she maintained with that power, through the 
Black Sea, might thereby be destroyed. The Turks, moreover, 
had to complain of the Russian Consul in Moldavia, who, as 
they alleged, sought every means to interrupt the peace and good 
understanding between the two Empires. They demanded that 
he should be recalled, and moreover, that the Empress should 
renounce the protection of Prince Heraclius, and withdraw her 
troops from Georgia. Finally, they wished that all Russian 
vessels that passed the Straits should be subjected to an exami- 
nation, in order to prevent contraband trade. 

These demands were no sooner made, than the Divan, with- 
out waiting for an answer from the Court of St. Petersburg, 
determined to proclaim war (Aug. 18, 1787,) by sending the 
Russian minister, M. de BoulgakofF, to the Castle of the Seven 
Towers. On the news of this rupture, the Empress despatched 
a considerable force against the Turks ; her troops extended 
from Kaminiec in Podolia, to Balta, a Tartar village on the 
frontiers of Poland, between the Dniester and the Bog. Prince 
Potemkin, the commander-in-chief of the army, had under him 
Suwarow, Repnin, Kamenskoi, and others. The Emperor Jo- 
seph II., after having for some time supported the character of 
mediator between the Turks and Russians, engaged in the wai 



1 
j 

' i 

I i 

!i 

i! 

, I 

. j 

! i 

; i 
. I 

; 1 
, 1 



PERIOD VIII. A. D. 1713 — 1789. 415 

as the ally of Russia (Feb. 9, 1788.) He attacked the Turks 
in Moldavia, and on several points of Hungary. Marshal Lau- 
don undertook the siege of Belgrade, of which he made himself 
master (Oct. 8, 1789.) It was obvious, however, that the pro- 
gress of the Austrians did not correspond either to the ability of 
their generals or the superiority of their arms. 

Another enemy of Russia appeared on the stage. Gustavus 
III., King of Sweden, listened to the insinuations of the Cabi- 
nets of London and Berlin, and made a diversion in favour of 
the Porte. That prince, after renewing his aUiance with the 
Porte, commenced the war against Russia, at the very instant 
when the whole of her forces were turned against the Turks. 
A land army was formed by his orders in Finland, while a 
Swedish fleet, consisting of twenty ships of the line and ten 
frigates, advanced on Cronstadt, and threw the city of St. Pe- 
tersburg into a state of great terror. An engagement between 
the two fleets took place near the Isle of Hoogland (May 80, 
1789.) Both sides fought with equal advantage ; but an un- 
foreseen event disconcerted the measures of the Swedish mo- 
narch. After he had made his dispositions for attacking the 
city of Fredricksheim in Finland, several officers of his army 
refused to march, alleging as a reason, that the constitution of 
the kingdom would not permit them to be accessary to an offen- 
sive war, which the Swedish nation had not sanctioned. The 
example of these officers occasioned the defection of a great 
part of the troops. The expedition to Finland failed, and the 
Russians thus gained time to put themselves in a state of defence. 

The Empress, thiis attacked by the King of Sweden, claimed 
the supplies which Denmark owed her, in virtue of the alliance 
which subsisted between the two States. The Danes fitted out 
a squadron, and marched a body of auxiliary troops into toe go- 
vernment of Bohus, which they soon conquered (1788.) From 
Bohus they marched to West Gothland, and laid siege to Got- 
tenburg. The King of Sweden hastened in person to the de- 
fence of that place, one of the most important in his kingdom. 
It would certainly have fallen, however, but for the powerful 
intervention of the Cabinets of London and Berlin, who oblig- 
ed the Court of Copenhagen to conclude the different truces 
with Sweden (1789,) and to adopt a perfect neutrality, even 
with the consent of the court of St. Petersburg. 

The war between the Swedes and the Russians was then con- 
fined to naval operations, the success of which, in the campaigns 
of 1789 and 1790, was nearly equal on both sides. The defeat 
which the Swedish fleet sustained in the Gulf of Viburg (July 
3, 1790,) was compensated by the victory which the King of Swe- 



! I 



i 



I 
I 

II 



416 CHAPTER IX. 

den gained in person (July 9, 10,) at Swenkasund over the 
Russian fleet, commanded by the Prince of Nassau-Siegen. 
This action, which cost the Russians many men, and a great 
number of their ships, tended to accelerate the peace between 
the two powers. The King of Sweden being deserted by the 
Courts of London and Berlin, Avho had drawn him into the war, 
was terrified lest the Russians should take advantage of the dis- 
contents that prevailed among the Swedish Nobles, to penetrate 
into the interior of his kingdom. He willingly accepted the 
equitable conditions which the Empress of Russia proposed to 
him. Peace was concluded in the Plain of Werela, near the 
river Kymen (Aug. 14, 17S0,) between the advanced posts of 
the two camps : and the limits of both States were re-estab- 
lished on the footing of former treaties. 

As to the events of the war between Russia and the Porte, 
they were entirely in favour of the former power. A body of 
Russian troops, in conjunction with the Austrian army, made 
themselves masters of Choczim (Sept. 1788.) Prince Potem- ■ 
Kin undertook the siege of the important fortress of Oczakoft ' 
(Dec. 17,) and carried the place by assault, in spite of the cou- ! 
rageous defence made by the Turks. The whole garrison was 
put to the sword, and a great part of the inhabitants met with j 
the same fate. Suwarow and the Prince of Coburg beat the j 
Turks near Focksani in Moldavia (July 21, 1789.) The same ! 
General, with the assistance of that Prince, gained a brilliant ! 
victory over the Turks near Martinesti, on the banks of the i 
Rymna (Sept. 22,) which gained him the epithet of Rymniski. j 
The taking of the fortress of Bender, was an immediate conse- 
quence of that victory. Besides the province of Oczakofl', the | 
whole of Moldavia and Bessarabia, with Tulcza, Isakzi, Kilia, and \ 
Ismael, and the fortress of Sudjoukkale, in Turkish Cuban, fell 
successively into the hands of the Russians. The taking of j 
[smael by Suwarow, occasioned prodigious slaughter. It cost i 
the lives of 30,000 Ottomans ; without reckonmg the prisoners. ! 
who amounted to the number of 10,000. j 

These victories stirred up the jealousy of the British minis- \ 
try, who fitted out an expedition to make a new diversion in fa- | 
vour of the Porte, and engaged their ally, the King of Prussia, 
to despatch a body of troops to the frontiers of Silesia and 
Poland. Not confining himself to these operations, that Prince 
concluded a formal alliance with the Porte, in which he agreed 
to declare war against the Austrians, as well as the Russians, in 
the course of next spring. The Emperor Leopold IL, yielding 
to these menaces, and being desirous of restoring peace to his 
subiects, concluded an agreement at Reichenbach (July 27, 



Li: 



PERIOD VIII. A. D. 1713 — 1789. 417 

1790,) with the Court of Berlin, by which he granted an armis- 
tice, and consented to make a special peace with the Porte on 
the basis of the status ante helium. This peace was signed 
at Szistowa, in Bulgaria (Aug. 4, 1791,) under the mediation 
of Holland and Prussia, The Emperor restored Belgrade, and 
in general, all that he had taken from the Turks during the 
war. He agreed to retain Choczim no longer than the conclu- 
sion of the peace between the Russians and the Turks ; only 
they promised him a more advantageous frontier on the left 
bank of the Unna ; and on the side of Wallachia, the river 
Tzerna was adopted as the boundary between the two Empires. 

The Empress of Russia having resolved not to receive the 
proposals which the two allied courts offered her, then continued 
the war alone against the Porte, and her generals signalized 
themselves by new exploits. At length the British ministry be- 
ing convinced that this Princess would never yield, thought fit 
to abandon the terms which, in concert with the Court of Ber- 
lin, they had demanded, as the basis of the peace to be conclud- 
ed between Russia and the Porte. Besides, they were desirous 
of making up matters with Russia, at the time when she de- 
tached herself from France, by renouncing the engagements 
which she had contracted with that power by the treaty of com- 
merce of 1787, Avith the Court of Berlin. The British minis- 
try agreed never to assist the Turks, should they persist in re- 
fusing the equitable conditions of peace which the Empress had 
offered them. 

A negotiation was opened at Galatz on the Danube. The 
preliminaries between Russia and the Porte were signed there; 
and the definitive peace concluded at Jassy in Moldavia (Jan. 
9, 1792.) This treaty renewed the stipulations of all former 
treaties since that of Kainargi. The Dniester was establishea 
as a perpetual frontier between the two Empires. The Turks 
ceded to Russia the fortress of Oczakoff, with all the country 
lying between the Bog and the Dniester. The cession of the 
Crimea, the isle of Taman, and part of the Cuban, lying on the 
right bank of the river of that name, was confirmed to Russia. 
The Porte likewise engaged to put a stop to the piracies of the 
Barbary Corsairs, and even to indemnify the subjects of Russia 
for their losses, should they not obtain reparation within a lim- 
ited time. Russia likewise restored all her other conquests ; 
only stipulating, for certain advantages, in favour of Moldavia 
and Wallachia. 

It had been agreed between the plenipotentiaries of the two 
Empires, that the Porte should pay a sum of 12,000,000 of 
piasters, to indemnify Russia for the expenses of the war. But 

27 



418 CHAPTER X. 

immediately after the conclusion of the treaty, the Empress gaire 
intimation that she would renounce this payment in favour of 
the Porte ; a piece of generosity which excited tho admiration 
of the Ottoman plenipotentiaries. The peace of Jassy gave 
new energy to the commerce of the Russians on the Black 
Sea ; and the Empress founded the town and port of Odessa, 
which is situated on a bay of the Black Sea, between the Bog 
and the Dniester, about nine leagues distant from OczakofF, 



CHAPTER X. 

PERIOD IX. 



From the commencement of the French Revolution to the down' 
fall of Buonaparte, a. d. 1789 — 1815. 

The period of the French Revolution, on which we are en- 
tering, does not comprehend more than twenty-five years ; but 
that short space contains more lessons of important instruction 
than the two centuries which preceded it. In course of that 
time, the condition of Europe was entirely changed. The po- 
litical system, Avhich it had cost the combined labour of three 
hundred years to rear, was overturned from its basis, burying 
kingdoms and whole nations in the ruins. 

It was an era fertile in examples both of virtues and vices. 
It displayed the extremes of suffering and violence, of meanness 
and magnanimity. Kingdoms rose and disappeared by turns. 
New principles in morals and politics flourished for a day, and 
were quickly superseded by others. Europe was subdued and 
enslaved, first in the name of liberty and equality, and after- 
wards to gratify the ambition of a conqueror. At length an 
end was put to this reign of despotism ; and the nations of the 
Continent were delivered from a usurpation which they had too 
long supported with patience. 

The system of political equilibrium invented in the fifteenth 
century, and established by the treaties of Westphalia and 
Utrecht, was totally overthrown by France, during the period of 
which we speak. Two causes accelerated its downfall. The 
first was the violation of its fundamental principles, by the three 
powers who dismembered Poland, — an act which made justice 
and equity yield to convenience, and set an example that might 
prove dangerous to their own security. The other was the 
general belief which prevailed in the Cabinets of Europe, that 



fr 



PERIOD IX. A. D. 1789—1815. 419 

fne project of founding an universal monarchy was for ever 
hopeless and visionary — a persuasion which had lulled them 
into a state of fata 1 repose. This project, however, which they 
thought impracticable, was actually carried into execution ; 
though it appeared under a new form. The daring individual 
who conceived the design, gave it the name of the Federative 
System. By his plan, the different States on the Continent were 
to preserve an apparent independence, *vhenever this did not 
thwart his own views ; but their policy was to be entirely sub- 
servient to his interest, and to be regulated according to his di- 
rection. In this manner he undertook to conquer the whole 
world, with the aid of the Federal States, who were obliged to 
espouse his quarrels, and to make common cause with him 
against every power that refused to submit voluntarily to his 
sway, or to that of his family, whom he placed as his vassals on 
some of the most ancient thrones of Europe. 

To this was added another, which he called the Continental 
System. Its main object was to exclude Great Britain from all 
commerce with the other European states. By this means he 
hoped to deprive her of the command of the sea, of which she 
was now undisputed mistress ; to annihilate her commerce ; cut 
off the sources of her wealth ; ruin her marine ; and even to 
overthrow the constitution, which had so long been the boast and 
happiness of the English nation. Had it been possible to carry 
this project into execution, the Continent must necessarily have 
been impoverished and ruined. 

The twenty-five years of which we are now to give a brief 
outline, are so crowded with events, that, for the sake of perspi- 
cuity, it will be necessary to divide them into separate periods. 
In the history of France, the natural divisions are the five fol- 
lowing, viz. (1.) From the opening of the States-General, May 
5, 1789, till the abolition of Monarchy and the Constitutional 
Government, Aug. 10, 1792. (2.) The Reign of Terror ; from 
Aug. 10, 1792, till Oct. 26, 1795, when the Convention ceased 
to govern France. (3.) The Republican Government ; from 
Oct. 26, 1795 till May 18, 1804, when Buonaparte was declared 
Emperor. (4.) The Reign of Napoleon Buonaparte ; from May 
18, 1804, till March 30, 1814, when the Allies entered Paris. 
(5.) The Restoration of the Bourbon dynasty, after an exile of 
more than twenty years. 

These divisions point out the most remarkable changes that 
occurred in France during this period. Nevertheless, as we 
must notice the events which took place in the rest of Europe, a 
more convenient division will be as follows. (1.) From the 
commencement of the French Revolution till the Peace of 



420 CHAPTER X. 

Amiens, March 27, 1802. (2.) From the Peace of Amiens tiH 
the year 1810, when the power of France was at its greatest 
height. (3.) From the end of the year 1810, till the Treaty of 
Paris in November 1815, which includes the decline and fall ot 
the French Empire under Buonaparte, and the restoration of a 
new political system in Europe. After giving a sketch of the 
various events which happened in France, we shall shortly ad- 
vert to the revolution which the different states of Europe un 
derwent during the same time. The affairs of other parts of 
the world can only be taken notice of, as they may happen to be 
connected or interwoven with those of Europe. 

We now return to the first of these periods, commencing with 
the origin of the French Revolution (May 1789,) and ending 
with the Peace of Amiens. 

The primary and elementary causes of the Revolution in 
France must he traced back to the disordered state of her finan- 
ces, which began under Louis XIV. ; to the general immorality 
which prevailed under the Regent Orleans ; to the mal-admin- 
istration of the government in the reign of Louis XV. ; and, 
finally, to the new doctrines, both religious and political, which 
had become fashionable after the middle of the eighteenth cen- 
tury. 

It is not to be denied, that there were many abuses in the ex- 
isting government of France that required to be corrected. The 
royal prerogative at that time, may be called arbitrary rather 
than despotic, for the Monarch had, in reality, greater power 
than he exercised. The persons and properties of the subject 
were at the disposal of the crown, by means of imposts, confis- 
cations, letters of exile, &c. ; and this dangerous authority was 
resisted only by the feeblest barriers. Certain bodies, it is true, 
possessed means of defence, but these privileges were seldom 
respected. The noblesse were exempted from contributions to 
the state, and totally separated from the commons, by the prohi- 
bition of intermarriages. The clergy were also exempted from 
taxation, for which they substituted voluntary grants. Besides 
these oppressive imposts, the internal administration was badly 
organized. The nation, divided into three orders, which were 
again subdivided into several classes, was abandoned to all the 
evils of despotism, and all the miseries of partial representation. 
The noblesse were divided inio courtiers, who lived on the fa- 
vour of the prince, and who had no common sympathies with 
the people. They held stations in the army for which they 
were not qualified, and made a trade of all appointments and 
offices of trust. The clergy were divided into two classes, one 
of which was destined for the bishoprics and abbacies with their 



PERIOD IX. A. D. 1789—1815. 421 

rich revenues, while the other was destined to poverty and la 
bour. The commons scarcely possessed a third part of the 
soil, for which they were compelled to pay feudal services to the 
territorial barons, tithes to the priests, and taxes to the King. 
Tn compensation for so many sacrifices, they enjoyed no rights, 
had no share in the administration, and were admitted to no pub- 
lic employments. 

Such was the condition of France when Louis XVI. ascended 
the throne. This order of things could not continue for ever; 
but with proper caution and skilful management, many salutary 
improvements might have been introduced, without plunging 
the nation into rebellion and anarchy. Louis XVL had just 
views and amiable dispositions ; but he was without decision of 
character, and had no perseverance in his measures. His pro- 
jects for regenerating the State encountered obstacles which he 
had not foreseen, and which he found it impossible to overcome. 
He was continually vacillating in the choice of his ministers ; 
and his reign, up to the assembling of the States-General, was 
a complication of attempted reforms, which produced no benefi- 
cial result. Maurepas, Turgot, and Malesherbes, had been succes- 
sively intrusted with the management of affairs ; but they found 
it impossible to give satisfaction to any party. Their efforts for 
retrenchment displeased the courtiers, while the people were dis- 
contented at the continuation of existing abuses. The exhaust- 
ed state in which the American war had left the finances of the 
kingdom, and the unskilfulness of the ministers ; one of whom, 
the celebrated Necker, could contrive no other method of repair- 
ing these losses, than by means of forced loans, which augment- 
ed the national debt, and added to the other embarrassments of 
the government. The plan of M. de Calonne, another of the 
ministers, v/as to assemble the Notables, or respectable and dis- 
tinguished persons of the kingdom (Feb. 23, 1787,) with the 
view of obtaining through their means those new imposts which 
he could not expect to be sanctioned by the Parliament of Paris. 
But this assemblj'^ seemed little disposed to second his designs. 
They discovered, with astonishment, that within a few years 
loans had been raised to the amount of one thousand six hun- 
dred and forty-six millions of francs ; and that there was an an- 
nual deficit in the revenue of one hundred and forty millions. 
This discovery was the signal for the retirement of Calonne. 

His successor. Cardinal Brienne, the Archbishop of Toulouse 
tried in vain to overcome the resistance of the Parliament, who 
declared, by a solemn protestation (May 3, 1788,) that the right 
of granting supplies belonged to the States-General alone. Louis 
XVL, yielding to this expression of the public opinion, promised 



422 CHAPTER X. 

t(» assemble the deputies of the nation. A second meeting of 
tlie Notables, held at Versailles (Nov. 6,) deliberated as to the 
form and constitution of the States-General. M. Necker, who 
was recalled to the ministry, counselled the King to prefer the 
advice of the minority, who had espoused the popular side ; and 
proposed to grant to the Tiers-Etat, or Third Order, a double 
number of Representatives in the States-General ; which advice 
was followed. 

The States-General were summoned to meet at Versailles on 
the 27th of April 1789. The number of deputies Avas twelve 
hundred ; six hundred of whom were of the Tiers-Etat, three 
hundred of the noblesse, and three hundred of the clergy. The 
King opened the assembly in person (May 5, 1789.) It was 
accompanied with great solemnity and magnificence. The clergy 
occupied the first place ; next came the noblesse. The Tiers- 
Etat followed last. These individuals comprehended the choicp 
of the nation ; but the greater part of them were entirely inex- 
perienced in state affairs, and not a few of them were imbued 
with the principles of the new philosophy. The majority pro- 
posed to regenerate the government according to their own specu- 
lative notions ; while others secretly entertained the hope of 
overturning it, to gratify their own antipathies; or to satiate 
their avarice and ambition. 

A difference immediately arose on the question, whether they 
should sit according to their orders. Conciliatory measures 
having been tried in vain, the deputies of the Tiers-Etat resolved 
to declare themselves a National Assevibly. The King having 
ordered them to suspend their sittings, they changed their plac? 
of assembly to a Tennis Court, where, in opposition to the Royal 
authority, they took an oath never to separate until they ha.i 
achieved the regeneration of France. The majority of the 
clergy, and some of the nobles, joined this tumultuous assembly. 
Louis XVI., by a Royal Sessio?i (June 23,) condemned the con- 
duct of this meeting ; abrogated its decisions ; and published a 
declaration containing the basis of a free constitution. But the 
authority of the King had now ceased to be respected. The 
National Assembly refused to accept from him as a boon, what 
they were preparing to seize by force. Alarmed at this opposi- 
tion, Louis commanded the nobles and the clergy to join the 
popular party, or Tiers-Etat, as a measure for conciliating the 
public mind. 

The prime agent in this revolution was Mirabeau, a man of 
an ambitious and turbulent spirit, Avho inflamed the Assembly 
by his violent harangues. A demagogue from interest, and of 
good abilities, though immoral in his character, he was resolved 



PERIOD IX. A. D. 1789—1815. 423 

to build his fortune on the pubhc troubles, and to prevent, by all 
means in his power, the first symptoms of a return to subordina- 
tion and tranquillity. The Duke of Orleans supplied money 
to corrupt the troops, and excite insurrections over all parts of 
France. 

In the mean time, the King assembled an army at Versailles, 
under the command of Marshal Broglio ; and banished Necker 
(July 11,) with whom he had some just reasons to be displeased. 
This was the signal for a popular commotion. Paris was in a 
state of the greatest fermentation. The press inflamed the pub- 
lic mind. The people discussed in the open air those questions 
which were agitated in the Assembly. A table served the pur- 
pose of a rostrum ; and every citizen became an orator, who 
harangued on the dangers of his country, and the necessity of 
resistance. The mob forced the Bastille (July 14,) seized on the 
depots of arms, mounted the tri-coloured cockade, which was the 
distinctive banner of the city of Paris, and became that of the 
apostles of the revolution. Bailly, the academician, was appoint- 
ed mayor ; the citizens formed themselves into a National Guard, 
under the command of the Marquis La Fayette. The King, 
placed in so critical a situation, and surrouuded with danger, 
consented to withdraw the troops collected in the capital and 
the neighbourhood. He recalled M. Necker, (July 17,) and re- 
paired to Paris to intimate his good intentions to the Assembly ; 
declaring, that he identified himself with the nation, and relied 
on the affection and allegiance of his subjects. 

The National Assembly had usurped the whole legislative 
power, and undertaken to draw up a new constitution. Their 
charter commenced with a Declaration of the Rights of Man. 
Such was the ardour of their revolutionary enthusiasm, that they 
abolished, without discussion, and at one nocturnal sitting, the 
feudal regime, the rights and privileges of provinces and corpo- 
rations, the tithes, and the greater part of the seignorial preroga- 
tives. It was decreed (Aug. 4,) that the legislative power should 
be exercised by a single chamber ; and that the King could not 
refuse his sanction to these decrees longer than four years. 

As the Revolution did not proceed with a rapidity equal to the 
wishes of the Orleans faction, they took care to stir up new insur- 
rections. The mob of Paris attacked Versailles (Oct. 6,) in- 
vested the Chateau, committed the most horrible excesses, and 
conducted the King and his family prisoners to Paris, where 
they were followed by the National Assembly. These legisla- 
tors decreed the spoliation of the clergy, by placing their benefices 
at the disposal of the nation. They ordered the division of 
France into eighty-three departments ; the sale of the crown- 



424 CHAPTER X. 

lands, and ecclesiastical property ; the proceeds of which to be 
pledged for the redemption of the paper money, which was or- 
dered to be issued, under the name oi assi gnats ; the admission 
of Jews to the rights of citizens; the prohibition of monastic 
vows ; the right of the National Assembly to declare Avar, in 
consequence of a proposition from the King ; a secular constitu- 
tion, which rendered the clergy independent of the head of the 
church, and gave the people a right to nominate their bishops ; 
the abolition of the noblesse ; and the establishment of a tribunal 
at Orleans, for judging crimes of high treason against the nation 

Occupied with these decrees (1790-91,) the National Assem- 
bly left the King no authority to repress the crimes and excesses 
which were multiplying every day within the kingdom ; nor did 
they adopt themselves any measures for putting a stop to them. 
The King, indeed, according to the plan of their constitution, 
was, to be the depository and supreme head of the executive 
power ; but he had been stripped of the means necessary to the 
effective exercise of any authority whatever. He had neither 
places to grant, nor favours to bestow. He was left without any 
control over the inferior parts of the administration, since the 
men who filled these posts were elected by the people. He was 
not even allowed the pomp of a throne, or the splendour of a 
crown. The Assembly seemed to think it a part of their glor}' 
to divest their monarch of his most valuable prerogatives. They 
imagined that a monarchy could subsist when its authority was 
reduced to a phantom ; that the throne could stand secure amidst 
the ruin of ranks ; exposed to all the waves of faction, and when 
every sentiment of respect and affection was destroyed. Such 
was the idea of royalty entertained by the French legislators. 
By abolishing the gradations of society, they sapped the very 
foundations of that frail and imaginary majesty which they had 
modelled and fashioned according to their own ideas. Thousands 
of noble families, finding their lives insecure, resolved to abandon 
the country. The King himself made an attempt to escape from 
the captivity in Avhich he was held. He did escape in disguise, 
but was recognised, and arrested at Varennes by the National 
Guard (June 25,) reconducted to Paris, and suspended from his 
functions. Monsieur, the King's brother, was more fortunate. 
He arrived at Brussels. The Count D'Artois, the younger 
brother, had quitted France the year before. 

The Orleans party undertook to compel the National Assem- 
bly to pronounce the deposition of the King. A large assemblage, 
which had met in the Champs-de-Mars (July 17, 1791,) was dis- 
persed by an armed force, by order of Bailly, and commanded 
by La Fayette. The moderate party in the National Assembly 



PERIOD IX. A. D. 1789—1815. 425 

had gained the ascendancy. The constitutional articles were 
revised in some points, and digested into a systematic form. 
The King accepted this new code 'Sept. 13;) and there was 
every reason to believe that he was n solved to carry it into exe- 
cution. The Constituent Assembly, aftci having declared Avig- 
non and Venaissin annexed to France, separated (Sept. 30,) to 
make way for a Legislative Assembly. 

The Royal brothers and most of the emigrants, having fixed 
their residence at Coblentz, published addresses to all the Courts 
of Europe, to solicit their assistance in restoring the King, and 
checking the revolutionary torrent which threatened to inundate 
Germany. The Princes of the Empire, who had possessions in 
Alsace, found themselves aggrieved by the decrees of the Con- 
stituent Assembly, in respect to those rights which had been 
guaranteed to them on the faith of existing treaties. They ac- 
cordingly claimed the intervention of the Emperor and the 
Empire. The Electors of Mayence and Treves had permitted 
the French noblesse to organize bodies of armed troops within 
their estates. After the arrest of the King at Varennes, the 
Emperor Leopold had addressed a circular to all his brother 
Sovereigns, dated from Padua (July 6,) in which he invited them 
to form an alliance for restoring the King's legitimate author- 
ity in France. Accordingly, an alliance was concluded at 
Vienna a few days after between Austria and Prussia, the object 
of which was to compel France to maintain her treaties with the 
neighbouring States. The two monarchs, who met at Pilnitz 
(Aug. 27,) declared that they would employ the most efficacious 
means for leaving the King of France at perfect liberty to lay 
the foundation of monarchical government. But after Louis 
had accepted the constitution of the Assembly, the Emperor 
formally announced (Nov. 12,) that the co-operation of the con- 
tracting powers was in consequence suspended. 

In a moment of unreflecting liberality, the Constituent Assem- 
bly had formerly declared, that none of its members could be 
elected for the first Legislative Assembly. This new Assembly, 
which met Oct. 1, 1791, was composed of men altogether defi- 
cient in experience, and hurried on by the headlong fanaticism 
of revolution. It was divided into two parties. On the right 
hand were those who hoped to preserve monarchy, by maintain- 
ing the constitution with certain improvements and modifications ; 
and on the left, those who proposed that they should proceed in 
their revolutionary career. This latter party, in which the depu- 
ties of the Girondists had the ascendancy, had conceived two 
methods for overturning the constitution, viz. 1, to bring the 
King into disrepute, by obliging him to make use of his suspen- 



426 CHAPTER X. 

sive veto against those decrees which appeared most popuiar ; 
and 2, to involve the nation in war, that they might find employ- 
ment for the army, who seemed pleased with the new order of 
things. The party on the right, who formed the majority, had 
not the courage to oppose the execution of this plan. The As- 
sembly issued severe decrees against the King's brothers, as 
well as against the emigrants and the priests, who had taken no 
share in these levelling projects. They deprived the King of 
his body-guard, and subjected him to every species of annoyance 
and humiliation. 

This Assembly, however, was by no means in the enjoyment 
of entire liberty. It Avas unde^- the influence of those popular 
societies, known by the name of Jacobins., so called from their 
meetmg in a convent in Paris, formerly belonging to that reli- 
gious order. These societies, who had overspread all France, 
were affiliated with each other, and all under the control and 
direction of the parent society in the metropolis. It was there 
that they prepared those laws which they compelled the National 
Assembly to pass, and concocted their plots against the Royal 
authority. They had an immense number of emissaries in 
every country, who propagated their doctrines, and prepared the 
way for the triumph of their principles. 

In order to provoke a declaration of war, and thereby get rid 
of the army, the deputies on the left never ceased to inveigh from 
the public tribunals against the conduct of foreign powers ; and 
to represent the King as secretly leagued with them in their de- 
signs. His most faithful servants had been the object of their 
calumnies. The ministry resigned their office, and the King re- 
constructed a cabinet composed of Jacobins (March 17, 1792,) 
the most conspicuous of whom were Dumouriez, who became 
Minister for the Foreign department, Clavieres and Duranthon, 
who were intrusted with the Finance, and Roland, who was 
promoted to the administration of the Interior. 

The Emperor Leopold, with whom they were on terms of 
negotiation, deinanded redress for the grievances of those princes 
who had possessions in Alsace. Instead of giving him satisfac- 
tion, the new French Cabinet induced the King to propose to 
the Assembly (April 20,) that they could answer his demands 
ill no other way than by a declaration of war. This proposi- 
tion passed with little deliberation, and was hailed with en- 
thusiasm. Seven members only had the courage to oppose it. 
The Assembly continued to issue their revolutionary decrees, 
which were both repugnant to the conscience of the King, and 
dangerous to the security of the throne. Louis, who had been 
recently offended by the dismissal of his guards, declared he 



PERIOD IX. A. D. 1789—1815. 427 

could no longer submit to the insolence of these new ministers., 
three of whom he discarded with indignation. Their accom- 
plices, the Jacobins, and Pethion the mayor of Paris, then or- 
ganized an insurrection of the armed populace of the Fauxbourgs 
or suburbs. The mob then repaired to the Tuileries (June 20,) 
to force the King to sanction the decrees of the Assembly, and 
recall the patriot ministers. The King saved his own life, and 
that of his Queen, by repelling those factions demagogues with 
firmness and courage. He constantly refused to grant what 
they demanded of him by violence ; while the National Assem- 
bly displayed the most shameful pusillanimity. They even car- 
ried their cowardice so far, as to replace Pethion and Manuel in 
their functions, whom the King had suspended for having failed 
to perform their duty. 

Pethion, and those who ruled at their pleasure the Sections 
of Paris, where no royalist dared to appear, then demanded the 
dethronement of the King; and in order to compel the Assem- 
bly to pronounce sentence against him, the conspirators publicly 
organized a new insurrection. The populace rose in arms, and 
attacked the Castle of the Tuileries (Aug. 10.) The King re- 
fused the assistance of those faithful citizens who had flocked 
round his person. Misled by unwise or perfidious counsels, he 
repaired with his family to Paris ; and entering the National 
Assembly, addressed them in these words : " Gentlemen, I am 
come here to avoid the commission of a great crime. I shall 
always consider myself and my family in safety when I am 
among the representatives of the nation." The populace having 
assailed the Castle, the faithful Swiss Guards defended it with 
courage, and perished in the performance of their duty. The 
greater part of those found in the Tuileries were massacred 
by the rabble. The representatives of the nation, who were, 
during this time, in a state of the greatest alarm, decreed, in 
presence of the Sovereign, and on the proposal of Vergniaud, 
that the King should be suspended, and a National Convention 
assembled. 

Some days after, Louis, with his Queen, the Dauphin, Ma- 
dame Royale, and Madame Elizabeth, the King's sister, were 
imprisoned in the Temple, under a guard of the municipality of 
Paris, composed of partisans of the Revolution. This munici- 
pality, and the ministers appointed by the Assembly, exercised 
a most tyrannical authority. The prisons were crowded with 
priests and nobles. Danton, the Minister of Justice, and a most 
violent revolutionist, entered into arrangements with the Com- 
rmme for the massacre of these innocent men. The cruel work 
of butchery continued for three days without remorse (Sept. 2, 



428 CHAPTER X. 

3,) and without the Legislative Assembly daring to interpose 
A few days after, the prisoners who had been sent to the Tribu- 
nal at Orleans, were conducted to Versailles, and put to death 
by the hands of relentless murderers. At length the Legislative 
Assembly dissolved, (Sept. 21,) to make way for the National 
Convention. 

The war had commenced in the month of April 179L Luck- 
ner, Rochambaud, and La Fayette, commanded the French 
armies, but their operations were without success. The Aus- 
trians had merely acted on the defensive. In virtue of an alliance 
concluded at Berlin (Feb. 7,) between the Emperor and the 
King of Prussia, an army of fifty thousand Prussians, to which 
were added six thousand Hessians and a body of emigrants, all 
under the command of the Duke of Brunswick, and an Austrian 
army, commanded by Clairfait, entered France by way of the 
Ardennes. Longwy and Verdun opened their gates to the 
Prussians (Aug. 13 ;) but their progress was arrested by the 
manoeuvres of Dumouriez, who had succeeded La Fayette in 
the command of the army ; as well as by sickness and the want 
of provisions. After cannonading Valmy (Sept. 20,) which was 
nmmanded by General Kellerman, the combined army retired 
.owards the Rhine, and into the dutchy of Luxemburg. 

The Girondists, reinforced by all the enthusiasts in France, 
formed the National Assembly (Sept. 21, 1792.) The very day 
of their meeting, they voted the abolition of royalty, on the pro- 
position of the comedian Collot D'Herbois, and proclaimed the 
Republic. Like the Assemblies which had preceded it, this was 
divided into two parties ; the one composed of the Girondists 
and their friends, who wished for the restoration of order ; the 
other called the Mountain, had an interest in continuing the 
revolution. Political dominion was the object of contest which 
from the beginning engaged these two parties ; but they assumed 
the pretext of honest design, to conceal their main purpose from 
the eyes of the vulgar. The deputies of the Mountainists, as 
they could not charge their adversaries with the reproach of 
Royahsm, exhibited them to the people as Federalists, o.xe'pxod.ch 
which was afterwards fatal to the party ; and in order to have a 
rallying word, Tallien decreed (Sept. 5,) that the Republic was 
one and indivisible. 

To detail all the laws and acts which the Convention publish- 
ed during the three years which it oppressed France, would be 
to unfold a disgusting catalogue of crimes and extravagances ; 
we must be content with merely adverting to such of its opera- 
tions as were distinguished by their enormity, or produced any 
durable effect. One of its first decrees was, to banish all emi- 



PERIOD IX. A. D. 17S9— 1S15. 429 

grants for ever ; and to order those to be put to death who should 
return to their native country. Soon after, they made a tender 
of their assistance to all subjects who might be inclined to revoll 
against their legitimate sovereigns ; and in the countries which 
were occupied by their own armies, they proclaimed the sover- 
eignty of the people, and the abolition of the established authori- 
ties. The moderate party, or, more properly speaking, the less 
furious party of the Convention, were willing to spare the King's 
life. This, however, was one reason for the Mountainists to 
put him to death. The Convention accordingly decreed (Dec. 
3, 1792,) that a trial should be instituted against Louis Capet, 
as they called him ; and combining, in the most absurd manner, 
the functions of accusers, judges, and legislators, they assumed 
the right of pronouncing as to his culpability. Tw^ice they com- 
pelled him to appear at their bar (Dec. 11, 26,) Avhere de Seze, 
Malesherbes, and Tronchet undertook his defence. The de- 
meanour of the King was full of candour and dignity. Of seven 
hundred and twenty voters, six hundred and eighty-three de- 
clared him guilty (Jan. 15, 1793.) Thirty-seven refused to vote 
on different grounds, some of which were honourable ; but the 
Assembly did not contain a single man who dared positively to 
pronounce the innocence of their victim. Two only of those who 
refused to vote, declared they did not think themselves entitled , 
to sit as judges of the King. 

The minority in vain had flattered themselves that they might 
rescue the King from death, provided they referred the punish- 
ment to the nation itself. But in this they were disappointed. 
Of seven hundred and eighteen voters, four hundred and twenty- 
four objected to the appeal to the people. Two hundred and 
eighty-three admitted it ; and eleven had voted from interested 
motives, which could not be sustained. Nothing now remained 
but to pronounce the punishment to be inflicted on the King. 
Of seven hundred and twenty-one voters, three hundred and 
sixty-one were for an unconditional sentence of immediate death, 
and among these the Duke of Orleans, (Jan. 17.) The partisans 
of Louis interposed, and appealed from this sentence to the na- 
tion. In vain did the Girondists support this petition. Of six 
hundred and ninety voters, three hundred and eighty decided 
that his execution should take place within twenty-four hours. 

Louis heard his sentence of death with composure and Chris- 
tian resignation. He had already made his will, a monument 
at once of his piety and the purity of his heart. He died the 
death of a martyr (Jan. 21, 1793.) At the moment when the 
executioner's axe was ready to strike, the Abbe Edgeworth, his 
confessor, addressed him in these sublime words : — " Son of St. 



430 CHAPTER X. 

Louis, ascend to Heaven I" The whole inhabitants of Paris, whu 
viewed this foul deed with horror, were under arms. A mourn- 
ful silence reigned in the city. 

All governments agreed in condemning the conduct of the 
regicides ; but the voice of general detestation did not check the 
career of the sanguinary faction. The crime with which the 
Convention had stained themselves presaged the ruin of the 
Girondists, though they retarded their downfall by a struggle of 
four months. An insurrection of the sections of Paris (June 2,) 
organized by Hebert, procureur of the commune, and by the 
deputies Marat, Danton, and Robespierre, decided the victory. 
The Girondists were proscribed for the crime of federalism. The 
victorious party honoured themselves with the title of Sans-cu- 
lottes, and commenced what has been called the Reign of Ter- 
ror. The Convention was now nothing more than an assembly 
of executioners, and a den of brigands. To hoodwink and de- 
ceive the people, they submitted for their approbation the plan 
of a constitution, drawn up by Herault de Sechelles (June 24 ;) 
according to which the Primary Assemblies were to exercise the 
sovereignty, and deliberate on all legislative measures. After 
the 2d of June, the whole power was in the hands of the Com- 
mittee of Public Safety, which was formed in the Convention. 
Danton, the chief of the Cordeliers, a popular assembly more 
extravagant than the Jacobins themselves, had the most influ- 
ence for a time ; but he was soon supplanted by Robespierre. 
The Constitution of the 24th of June had been adopted in the 
Primary Assemblies ; but Robespierre decreed that it should be 
suspended (Aug. 28 ;) and that the Republic was in a state of 
revolution, until its independence was acknowledged. 

Under this title they organized a government, the most tyran- 
nical and the most sanguinary which history ever recorded. 
Robespierre was at the head of ii. All France swarmed with 
revolutionary committees. Revolutionary armies were dispers- 
ed every where, dragging the wealthy and Avell-afTected to pun- 
ishment. A law with regard to suspected persons changed all 
the public edifices into prisons, and hlled all the prisons with 
victims devoted to destruction. To remedy the fail of the as- 
signats, the Convention fixed an assessment, called the maxi- 
mum, on all articles of consumption : a measure which reduced 
the country to a state of famine. The Queen. Maria Antoinette, 
was accused before this revolutionary tribunal, and brought to 
the scaffold (Oct. 16.) Many of the Girondist deputies were 
arrested on the 2d of June, and met with the same fate. The 
Duke of Orleans, who was become an object of execration to 
all parties, perished there in his turn (Nov. 7.) Nobody pitied 



PERIOD IX. A. D. 1789 — 1815. 431 

his fate. Over all the provinces of the kingdom the blood of 
the innocent flowed in torrents. 

The revolutionists did not stop hero. To their political 
crinaes they added acts of impiety. They began by abolishing 
the Gregorian calendar and the Christian era, and substituted 
in its place the era of the Kepublic ; to commence on the 22d 
September 1793. In a short time, Hebert and Chaumette, two 
chiefs of the commune, got the Convention to decree the abo- 
lition of the Christian religion (Nov. 10.) The worship of 
Reason was substituted in its place ; and the church of Notre 
Dame at Paris was profaned, by being converted into a temple 
of atheism. Gobel, the Constitutional Bishop of Paris, and se- 
veral other ecclesiastics, publicly apostatized from their faith. 
Plunder and sacrilege of all kinds were committed in the Catho- 
lic churches. 

The departments in the west of France had remained faithful 
to the King. In Poitou, Maine, Brittany, and Normandy, a 
civil war arose, known by the name of the Vendean War, which 
was on the point of overturning the Republic. The Vendean 
insurgents took the title of the Catholic army, which was com- 
manded in the name of Louis XVII., (who still remained a pri- 
soner in the Temple after his father's death,) by a Council which 
sat at Chatillon. M. d'Elbee was Commander-in-chief He 
had under him Artus de Bonchamp, the Marquis de Lescure, 
de Larochejacquelin, Cathelineau, Charette, and Stofflet. This 
insurrection had broken out on account of a levy of troops which 
the Republic had ordered. 

The war was carried on with violence and cruelty. Among 
the most remarkable of its events that happened in the year 
1793, were the battle of Saumur (June 9,) after which all the 
towns on the Loire, except Nantes, declared for the King ; the 
battle of Chatillon, where the Royalists were repeatedly defeated 
by the army of Mayence, which the Convention had sent against 
them ; the passage of the Loire (Oct. 17, 19,) by a hundred 
thousand of the Vendeans, including old men, women and chil- 
dren, who were eager to approach the coast, where they expect- 
ed the supplies promised by England to arrive ; the defeat of the 
army of Mayence at Chateau Gontier ; the taking of Mans by 
the Republicans, and their victory at Savenay ; the taking of 
Noirmoutier, where the brave d'Elbee fell into the hands of the 
enemy (Jan. 2, 1794;) and, in the last place, the defeat of Cha- 
rette at Machecoult. The troops of the Convention were com- 
manded in succession by Biron, Canclaux, Westermann, Kleber, 
Beysser, I'Echelle, Marceau, and Rossignol. The deputy Car- 
rier de Nantes covered the whole country with slaughter, and 
exerted his ingenuity to invent new methods of massacre. 



432 CHAPTER X. 

Other insurrections arose in the south of France, after the re- 
volution of the 2d of June. Bourdeaux, Lyons, Marseilles, and 
Toulon, declared themselves against the Convention. Bordeaux 
was speedily subdued (Aug. 25, 1793.) General Carteaux took 
possession of Marseilles, with the assistance of the populace. 
Toulon proclaimed Louis XVIL (Aug. 29,) and threw them 
selves under the protection of Admirals Hood and Langara, who 
were cruising off their coast with the English and Spanish fleets 
Kellerman had orders to besiege Lyons ; a task which was 
afterwards intrusted to Doppet. This city surrendered after a 
vigorous resistance (Oct. 9.) It became the scene of the most 
atrocious actions. Its finest buildings were entirely ruined and 
demolished by order of the Convention. Carteaux took Toulon 
by assault (Dec. 24.) It was during the siege of this place, that 
a young officer distinguished himself by his courage, and after- 
wards by his enthusiasm for the Revolution. This youth was 
Napoleon Bonaparte, a native of Ajaccio in Corsica. 

The very same day on which the Convention met, the Duke 
of Saxe-Teschen at the head of the Austrian army, had com- 
menced the siege of Lille ; but he was obliged to raise it in about 
twenty days. The Legislative Assembly had declared war 
against the King of Sardinia (Sept. 10, 1792.) General Mon- 
tesquiou took possession of Savoy, and Anselm made himself 
master of Nice. Some months after, the Convention declared 
these provinces to be annexed to France. While the allies were 
retiring from Champagne, Custine took Mayence by a coup de 
main (Oct. 21,) assisted, as it afterwards appeared, by treachery. 
Dumouriez, with a superior force, beat the Duke of Saxe-Teschen 
at Gemappe (Nov. 6,) and soon achieved the conquest of the 
Belgic provinces. The Convention having declared war against 
England and the Stadtholder of the Netherlands (Feb. 1, 1793,) 
as well as against Spain, a powerful coalition was formed against 
them, of which England and Russia were the prime supporters ; 
the one by her ammunitions, and the other by the subsidies which 
she furnished. They were joined by all the Christian Sover- 
eigns in Europe, with the exception of Denmark. 

Dumouriez undertook the conquest of Holland, and penetra- 
ted as far as Moerdyk : but he was obliged to abandon his ob- 
ject in consequence of the defeat of Miranda who had laid siege 
to Maestricht, by the Austrian army under the command of the 
Duke of Saxe-Coburg. Dumouriez was himself defeated at 
Nerwinden (March 18,) after which he retired towards the fron- 
tier of France. Being determined to put an end to the tyranny 
ot the Convention, and to re-establish the constitution of 1791, 
he concluded an armistice with the Austrians, and delivered up 



PERIOD IX. A. B. 1789 — 1815. 433 

to them the commissioners which the Convention had sent to 
deprive him of his office ; but his army having refused to obev 
hivn, he escaped to Tournay, where General Clairfait then waL 
The young Duke of Chartres accompanied him in his flight. 

During the rest of the campaign, success was divided between 
the two parties. The Austrians, who were conquerors at Fa- 
mars (May 24,) took Conde, Valenciennes, and Quesnoy (July.) 
The Duke of York, who commanded the English army, was 
Deat by Houchard at Hondscote (Sept. 8.) Jourdan compelled 
General Clairfait, by means of the battle of Wattignies, to raise 
the siege of Maubeuge. On the side of the Pyrenees, the Span- 
ish generals, Ricardos and Ventura-Caro, gained several advan- 
tages ; the former having taken Bellegarde, CoUioure, and Port 
Vendre. On the Rhine, the allies had the best of the campaign. 
After an obstinate siege, Mayence surrendered to the Prussians 
(July 22,) who beat Moreau at Pirmasens (Sept. 14,) though 
they failed in the siege of Landau. An army of the allies, 
80,000 strong, commanded by Wurmser and the Duke of Bruns- 
wick, forced the lines at Wissemburg (Oct. 13,) and penetrated 
nearly as far as Strasburg ; but General Pichegru, who had 
taken the command of the French army, obliged Wurmser to 
repass the Rhine (Dec. 30.) The Prussians maintained them- 
selves on the left bank of that river, between Oppenheim and 
Bergen. 

In France, the revolutionists were divided into three parties. 
The Committee of Public Safety, at the head of which was 
Robespierre, supported by the club of Jacobins, governed with 
an absolute power. Hebert, Chaumette, Anacharsis Clootz, a 
native of Prussia, and the other members of the Commune of 
Paris, formed a second party ; more violent than the first, but 
contemptible from the character of the individuals who composed 
it. The third, comprehended Danton, Desmoulins, Herault de 
Sechelles, and others, who stood in awe of Robespierre, and 
were terrified by the extravagant fury of these bandits. The 
faction of the Commune was the first that was annihilated by 
the temporary union of the other two parties (March 24, 1794.) 
After that, Robespierre found little difficulty in sending Danton 
and his friends to the scaffold (April 5 ;) but in a short time some 
of the members of the Committee of Public Safety, and the re- 
mains of the Girondist party, conspired against him. In order 
to please the people, he abolished the worship of Reason (May 
7,) and caused the Convention to proclaim the existence of a 
Supreme Being (June 8 ;) he introduced a new religion, that of 
Deism, of which he created himself high-priest. 

The power of Robespierre was now in its apogee and his 

28 



434 CHAPTER X. 

downfall approached. As the revolutionary tribunal was noi 
sufficiently expeditious m despatching those whom he had mark- 
ed out for destruction, he passed a decree (June 10,) by Avhich 
an unlimited authority was vested in that tribunal. This open- 
ed the eyes of his enemies in the Convention ; and, not doubt- 
ing that they were doomed to death, they conspired the ruin of 
the tyrant. Tallien and Billaud Varennes were the first that 
attacked him before the tribunal. Having repeatedly attempted 
to defend himself, he was prevented by the voice of the Assem- 
bly, crying, " Down with the tyrant !" At length, repulsed and 
dispirited, he allowed himself to be arrested. Having found 
means, however, to escape from the ^uard, he saved himself in 
the midst of the Commune, which was composed of those who 
had adhered to him after the fall of Hebert. Both sides took to 
arms ; Kobespierre and his faction were outlawed, but they 
showed little courage. Finding themselves undone, they en- 
deavoured to escape the swords of the enemy, by despatching 
themselves. Robespierre attempted self-destruction, but he only 
broke his jaw-bone with a pistol shot. He was executed, with 
twenty-one of his accomplices (July 28, 1794.) Eighty-three 
others met the same fate in course of the two following days ; 
from that time the reign of terror was at an end, and thousands 
of innocent persons were liberated from the prisons. His do- 
minion, however, was not yet discontinued ; and the career of 
this Convention, from its beginning to its dissolution, was mark- 
ed by a series of cruelties and oppressions. 

The campaign of 1794 was triumphant for the French arms. 
Pichegru commanded the army of the North, and Jourdan that 
of the Sambre and the Meuse. The Duke of Coburg had at 
first the command of the Austrian army ; but towards the end 
of the campaign, he transferred it to Clairfait. The King of 
Prussia, become disgusted with the war, had threatened to with- 
draw his grand army from the Rhine, and to leave only his con- 
tingent as a prince of the Empire, and the 20,000 men which 
he was bound to furnish Austria, in virtue of the alliance of 
1792. But England and Holland being engaged, by a conven- 
tion signed at the Hague, to furnish him with supplies, he pro- 
mised to retain 62,400 men under arms against France. They 
were under the command of Field-Marshal MellendorfT. The 
taking of Charleroi by Jourdan, and the battle of Fleurus, which 
he gained over the Duke of Coburg (June 26,) decided the faie 
of the Netherlands. After some movements in conjunction with 
the army of the Upper Rhine, under the command of the Duke 
of Saxe-Teschen, — movements which had but little success, from 
the want of agreement among the generals. — Clairfait, at the 



PERIOD IX. A. D. 1789—1815. 435 

bt^ad of the Austrian army, retired, about the end of the year, on 
the right bank of the Rhine, followed by MellendorfF, whom the 
French had never been able to bring into action. 

The army of the Pyrenees, under the command of Dugom- 
nuer, gained a splendid victory at Ceret over General La Union 
vApril 30,) and retook Bellegarde. The two generals of the 
arm)' were slain at Monte-Nero, where, after a battle of three 
days, the Spaniards were repulsed by Perignon (Nov. 27.) The 
French took Figuieres (Feb. 4,) and Roses about two months 
after. The western army of the Pyrenees, under the command 
of Muller, entered Spain, took Fontarabia and St. Sebastian 
(Aug. 1, 11,) beat the Spaniards at Pampeluna (Nov. 8,) and 
spread terror to the very gates of Madrid. After the reduction 
of Toulon, the English fleet, under Admiral Howe, being invited 
into Corsica by Paoli, took possession of that island (June 18,) 
which submitted to Britain as an independent kingdom. The 
French fleet, under Admiral Villaret Joyeuse, was defeated ofl^ 
Ushant by Admiral Howe (June 1.) Most of the French colo- 
nies had already fallen into the power of the English. 

General Pichegru, favoured by the rigour of winter, and the 
intrigues of the party opposed to the House of Orange, had 
made himself master, almost without striking a blow, of the 
United Provinces of the Netherlands (Jan. 1795,) where the 
Patriots had re-establi'shed the ancient constitution, such as it had 
been before the year 1788 ; the office of Stadtholder being again 
abolished, as the Prince of Orange, after being deprived of all 
his functions, had fled to England. France concluded a treaty 
with this Republic at the Hague (May 16,) where the indepen- 
dence of the latter was formally acknowledged. She entered 
also into an alliance against England ; paid one hundred mil- 
lions of florins ; and ceded a part of her territory. It was at 
this time (June 8, 1795,) that the royal Infant Louis XVII., only 
son ol Louis XVI., died in the Temple, in consequence of the 
bad treatment which he had endured incessantly for nearly 
three years. His uncle, who had assumed the title of Regent 
about the beginning of 1793, succeeded him in his right to the 
throne. That Prince, who then resided at Verona, took the 
title of Louis XVIII. 

After the battles of Mans and Savenay, and th.-- taking of Noir- 
moutier, the Vendeans had found themselves greatly exhausted 
But at the time of which we now speak, they formed themselves 
into bands of insurgents in Brittany and Normandy, under the 
name of Chouans. After the death of Larochejacquelin, Cha- 
rette and Sapineau concluded a peace with the Convention ai 
Jausnaie (Feb. 17, 1795.) Cormartin, the leader of the Chouans, 



436 CHAPTER X. 

did the same at Mabilais ; but, a few weeks after, the Conven- 
tion caused him to be arrested and shot, with seven other chiefs. 
This was the signal for a new insurrection. The English go- 
vernment at length resolved to send assistance to the Royalists. 
A bod)' of emigrants and French prisoners of war were landed 
in the Bay of Quiberon (June 18.) But the whole of the expe- 
dition was badly managed, and had a most disastrous result. 
General Hoche attacked the troops on their debarkation. The 
greater part might have saved themselves on board the vessels ; 
but the Marquis de Sombreuil, and five hundred and sixty young 
men of the best families, were taken and shot by order of Tal- 
lien (June 21,) in spite of the opposition of General Hoche, who 
declared that he had promised to spare their lives. 

In the National Convention, two parties were contending foi 
the superiority ; the Thermidorians or Moderates, and the Ter- 
rorists. The inhabitants of Paris, reduced to despair by the 
dearth which the maximum had caused, and instigated by the 
Jacobins, had several times revolted, especially on the days of 
the 12th Germinal (April 1,) and the 1st Prairial (May 20.) 
The moderate party, strengthened by the accession of many of 
the deputies proscribed since the 2d June 1793, gained the vie 
tory ; and purged the Convention, by banishing or putting to 
death the most execrable of the Terrorists. They even concili- 
ated, in some respects, the opinion of the public, by drawing up 
a new constitution (June 23,) which might appear wise and ju- 
dicious compared with the maxims which had been disseminated 
for several years. Its fundamental elements were a Legislative 
Body, composed of two elective chambers ; one of which was 
to have the originating of the laws, and the other, composed of 
men of judgment and experience, was to be invested with a 
veto. The executive power was to be lodged in the hands of a 
Council of five persons, clothed with an authority greater than 
that which the Constitution of 1791 had given to the King. 
The Convention passed several other laws, which indicated a 
desire to return to the principles of morality. They also resolved 
to exchange Madame Royale, the only remains of the family of 
Louis XVI., for the deputies delivered up by Dumouriez. But 
they lost again the affections of the people, by their laws of the 
5th and 13th Fructidor of the year Three, (Aug. 22, & 30, 
1795.) Premonished by the fault which the Constituent As- 
sembly had committed, in prohibiting its members from entering 
into the Legislative Body, and wishing, at the same time, to es- 
cape punishment for the many crimes they had committed, they 
ordained that two-thirds of the members then composing the 
Convention, should, of necessity, become a part of the new Le- 



PERIOD IX. A, D. 1789 — 1815. 437 

gislation ; and that if the Primary Assemblies did not re-appoint 
five hundred of the ex-conventional deputies, the newly elected 
members should themselves complete the quota, by adding a 
sufficient number of their ancient colleagues. 

The New Constitution had been submitted for the approba- 
tion of the people, which they doubted not it would receive, as it 
was to deliver France from the revolutionary faction. The Con- 
vention took advantage of this disposition of the people, to com- 
pel the Sections likewise to accept the two decrees, by declar- 
ing them an integral part of the Constitution. But this attempt 
was the occasion of new troubles. The Sections of Paris wished 
to vote separately on the Constitution, and on the decrees which, 
in that case, would have been rejected over all France ; the 
moderate party of the Convention, if we can honour them with 
that name, joined with the Terrorists. Perceiving the storm to 
be gathering, they now sought assistance and support from the 
troops whose camp was pitched under the walls of Paris. They 
armed a large body of men, at the head of which was Bona- 
parte, who gained a sanguinary victory over the Parisians, on 
the 13th Vendemiaire, in the year Three (October 5th, 1795.) 
The desire to restore the Bourbons had been the secret motive 
with the chiefs of the insurrection. 

A new Legislative Body assembled, which might be regarded 
as a continuation of the Convention ; so long at least as the five 
hundred deputies of the Convention were not excluded, who sat 
in consequence of the annual renewals of one-third of its mem- 
bers. The Executive Directory, appointed by the Council of 
the Ancients from a list presented by the Council of Five Hun- 
dred, consisted of Lareveillere-Lepeaux, Rewbel, Barras, Le 
Tourneur, and CarnSt, who had replaced Sieyes, — this member 
having declined to make one of the Directory — the whole five 
being Regicides. The forms of Terrorism were mitigated in 
some respects, but the morals of the administration gained no- 
thing by the change. The reign of the Directory was an era of 
corruption and dissoluteness, v/hose effects were long felt. An 
unbounded avarice seized the nation, and the Directory encour- 
aged aiid fed that shameful passion, by lending itself to the 
most infamous traffic. Men coveted the nobility of riches, 
rather than that of honour and birth. 

The Directory had to struggle against two inconveniences ; 
the one was the spirit of rebellion, which induced the Terrorists 
to form a conspiracy among themselves, — such as that of Druet 
and Babeuf (Mny 10, 1796,) and that which is known by the 
name of the Conspiracy of the Camp at Grenoble (Sept. 9.) 
The other inconvenience was still more serious, namely, the 



438 



CHAPTER X. 



embarrassed state of the finances. The quantity of assignats 
thrown into circulation, amounted to 18,933,500,000 francs. To 
reduce this sum, they decreed a loan of 600,000,000 in specie. 
This measure proving inefiectual, the assignats were replaced 
by another sort of paper-money, viz. rescriptions ; and finally by 
viandates. But both of these were discredited ; the former after 
being issued, and the latter even before they were put into effec- 
tive circulation, on the ground that it would be found necessary 
to withdraw them altogether from circulation. The State thus 
became bankrupt for thirty-nine thousand millions of francs. It 
then became necessary to have recourse to a system of regular 
imposts, which the people had not been accustomed to pay. 

The Executive Directory had succeeded in putting an end to 
the war in La Vendee. This success was owing to the firmness 
and moderation of General Hoche. Stofliet was betrayed, and 
shot at Angers (Feb. 25, 1796.) Charette who had fallen into 
the hands of the Republicans, met with the same fate at Nantes 
soon after. His death put an end to the Avar (March 29.) The 
Count d'Autichamp, and the other Vendean Generals, signed a 
treaty of peace with Hoche. George Cadoudal, the leader of 
the Chouans, fled to England. 

At first, from the accession of a third of the members of the 
two legislative councils, the moderate party gained the ascend- 
ancy. On M. Berthelemy's being appointed to the Directory, 
there arose a schism between Lareveillere-Lepeaux, Rewbel, and 
Barras, who were called the Triumvirs, and CarnSt and Ber- 
thelemy, who were inclined for peace, and for putting an end to 
the measures of the Revolution. The triumvirate lost the ma- 
jority in the Council, where Pichegru had put himself at the 
head of the moderate party, who hoped to restore the monarchy. 
Royalism, assisted by the liberty of the press which France then 
enjoyed, had made such progress as frightened the triumvirs. 
They thought themselves sure of the army, so easy to be sedu- 
ced when they are allowed to deliberate ; and especially of Bo- 
naparte. They then performed the exploit, which is known by 
the name of the Revolution of the ISth Fructidor (Sept. 4.) 
Sixty-five deputies, and the two Directors, Berthelemy and Car- 
not, were condemned to transportation ; and such of them as 
were apprehended, were banished to the deserts of Sinamari in 
Guiana. The last named deputies of the two Councils were 
expelled ; and the moderate laws, issued three months before, 
were superseded by revolutionary measures. The authors, ed- 
itors, and printers of royalist or moderate Journals, were also 
transported ; the liberty of the press was abolished, and contin- 
ued so in France from that time till 1814. Merlin, a lawyer of 



PERIOD IX. A. D. 1789—1815. 439 

Douay, was appointed to the place of one of the exiled Direc- 
tors, and the poet Francois, a native of NeuchS,teau in Lorrain, to 
that of another. 

Here, it will be proper to take a retrospect of the events of the 
war. The Grand Duke of Tuscany was the first that set the 
example of a reconciliation with France, which was signed at 
Paris, (Feb. 9, 1795.) The King of Prussia, whose finances 
were exhausted, entered into a negotiation Avith Berthelemey, 
the Eepublican ambassador, which was concluded at Basle by 
Baron Hardenberg, (April 5.) Prussia not only abandoned the 
coalition ; she even guaranteed the neutrality of the North of 
Germany, according to a line of demarcation which was fixed 
by a special convention, (May 17.) The Landgrave of Hesse 
Cassel likewise made peace at Basle, (Aug. 28th.) 

The retreat of the Prussians on the one hand, and the scar- 
city which prevailed in France on the other, had retarded the 
opening of the campaign of 1795. Field Marshal Bender hav- 
mg reduced Luxemburg, after a siege of eight months, and a 
plentiful harvest having once more restored abundance, the 
drmy of the Sambre and Meuse, commanded by Jourdan, and 
:hatof the Rhine and Moselle, uuder Pichegru, passed the Rhine. 
The former, being beat at Hochst by Clairfait, (Oct. 11,) repas- 
sed that river in disorder ; and Mayence, then under siege, was 
relieved. Pichegru, who had taken Manheim, (Sept. 22,) re- 
treated in like manner, and General Wurmser retook that city. 
An armistice was concluded on the last day of the year. 

In Italy the French were expelled from Piedmont and the 
States of Genoa, which they had invaded ; but the victory which 
Scherer gained over de Vins at Lovano (Nov. 23,) was a pre- 
lude to greater advantages, which they gained in course of next 
year. 

In Spain, Moncey gained the battle of Ormea, and occupied 
Bilboa. But the peace which the Chevalier Yriarte signed at 
Basle, (July 6,) put an end to his conquests. The King of Spain 
ceded to the Republic his part of the Island of St. Domingo. 
Lord Bridport defeated the French fleet off" L'Orient, (June 23, 
1795,) which intended to oppose the debarkation of the emi- 
grants at Quiberon. The coalition, which the retirement of 
Prussia and Spain had threatened to dissolve, gained fresh 
strength by several new alliances, such as that of Vienna, be- 
tween Austria and Great Britain, (May 20,) and the Triple Al- 
liance of St. Petersburg, (Sept. 28.) 

The campaign of 1796, was glorious for the French arms in 
Italy. Napoleon Bonaparte was there, at the head of an army 
destitute of every thing except courage. By a series of vie- 



440 CHAPTER X. 

toTies which he gained at Montenotte, Dego, Millesimo, Ceva, 
and Mondovi, over the Austrian General Beaulieux, and the 
Sardinian General Colli, he obliged the King of Sardinia to 
sign a truce at Cherasco, (April 28,) by which he surrendered 
up three fortresses. Bonaparte passed the Po at Placentia ; 
granted a truce on very disadvantageous terms to the Duke of 
Parma; and forced the passage of the Bridge of Lodi, (May 
9.) The fate of Lombardy was decided. Cremona and Piz- 
zighitone opened their gates to the conqueror, (May 14,) who 
soon made his entry into Milan. The Duke of Modena obtain- 
ed a suspension of arms. The King of Sardinia agreed to sign 
a peace at Paris, by which he surrendered Savoy and the dis- 
trict of Nice. The terror of the French arms was so great, 
that the King of Naples promised to remain neutral, by a con- 
vention which he concluded at Brescia (June 5.) The Pope 
also obtained neutrality, by the armistice of Bologna, (June 28,) 
but on conditions exceedingly severe. Though the war had 
ceased in Tuscany, a body of French troops occupied Leghorn, 
(June 28,) to seize the English merchandise in that port. 

The Court of Vienna was resolved to make every effort to 
save Mantua, the only place which remained to them in Italy. 
At th^ head of 50,000 fresh troops, Wurmser marched from the 
Tyrol, broke the French lines on the Adige, (July 31,) and com- 
pelled Bonaparte to raise the siege of Mantua. The latter 
General encountered the Austrians, and beat them at Castig- 
lione ; without however, being able to prevent Wurmser from 
throwing fresh supplies into Mantua. This place was invested 
a second time ; and a second time the Austrian army marched 
to its relief. While Bonaparte was engaged with Davidovitch 
at Roveredo, (Sept. 4,) and Massena pushing on as far as Trent, 
Wurmser marched in all haste towards Mantua. Bonaparte 
suddenly directed his course against him, vanquished him in 
several battles, and compelled him to throw himself, with the 
wreck of his army into the fortress (Sept. 15.) After this 
event, the King of the Two Sicilies, and the Duke of Parma, 
signed a definitive neace at Paris ; and the Republic of Genoa 
concluded a treaty, (Oct. 9,) by which it retained at least the 
appearance of independence. Austria tried a third time to 
relieve Mantua. Two armies under the command of Alvinzi 
and Davidovitch marched, the one from Friuli, and the other 
from the Tyrol. The former Avas encountered by Bonaparte, 
who defeated them in a sanguinary action at Arcole, (Nov. 17.) 
Immediately he directed his march against the other, and beat 
them at Rivoli, (Nov. 21.) 

While matters were thus passing in Italy, the army of the 



PERIOD IX. A. D. 1789 1815. 



441 



Sambre and Meuse, commanded by Jourdan, had several en- 
gagements with the Archduke-Charles, brother of the Emperor, 
on the Sieg and the Lahn. Moreau, at the head of the army of 
the Rhine and Moselle, passed the Rhine at Strasburg, and gained 
several advantages over the army which Wurmser had com- 
manded at the beginning of the campaign ; he concluded truces 
with the Duke of Wurtemberg, the Margrave of Baden, and the 
Circle of Swabia, who supplied him with money and provisions, 
(July,) and penetrated into Bavaria, the Elector of which was also 
obliged to submit to very rigorous conditions, (Sept. 7,) to obtain 
a suspension of arnis. Jourdan, on his side, having also passed 
the Rhine, marched through Franconia, as far as the Upper 
Palatinate. The Archduke-Charles, who, since the departure of 
Wurmser for Italy, had been at the head of all the Austrian 
armies in Germany, retired before so great a superiority of num- 
bers, and drew near to the quarter whence he expected the ar- 
rival of reinforcements. He immediately fell on the undis- 
ciplined army of Jourdan, defeated them at Amberg,(Aug. 24,) 
and Wurtsburg, (Sept. 3 ;) and put them so completely to the 
rout, that they were obliged to repass the Rhine (Sept. 19.) This 
disaster compelled Moreau to make his retreat ; in effecting 
which, he displayed the talents of a great general. After a 
number of engagements, in which he was more frequently the 
conqueror than conquered, he brought back his army to Hunin- 
gen, (Oct. 26,) where they passed the Rhine. That fortress and 
Kehl were the only points on the right bank of the Rhine which 
remained in the possession of the French. 

The Cabinet of London, finding that Spain had declared war 
against her (Aug. 19,) according to the treaty of St. Ildefonso 
which allied her strictly with France ; and moreover, seeing 
Ireland threatened with an invasion, ordered the British troops 
to evacuate the island of Corsica, (Oct. 21,) of which the French 
took possession. Lord Malmesbury was sent to Lille to nego- 
tiate a peace (Oct. 24,) which he was not able to obtain, because 
the conditions were not agreeable to the three Directors who 
formed the majority. The attempts which the French made to 
land in Ireland (Dec. 22,) under Admiral Morard de Galles, and 
General Hoche, proved unsuccessful. 

In 1797, the Austrians made a fourth attempt to save Man- 
tua. Alvinzi arrived with 80,000 men ; but after several bloody 
engagements, this army was dispersed, and old Wurmser was 
compelled to surrender Mantua by capitulation (Feb. 2.) Bo- 
naparte, who had broken his truce with the Pope, invaded the 
Ecclesiastical States ; but being menaced in the rear by a new 
Austrian army, he again made peace with his Holiness at To- 



442 CHAPTER X. 

lentino (Feb. 19.) The Pope, besides renouncing Avignon and 
the Venaissin, ceded also Ferrara, Bologna and Romagna. The 
new Austrian army in Italy Avas commanded by the Archduke- 
Charles ; but not being able to cope with that of Bonaparte in 
pitched battle, the Archduke retired through the Tyrol and Carin- 
thia into Stiria, where he was followed by the French General. 
This precipitate march threw the French army into a situation 
highly perilous ; since, besides the want of provisions, they were 
menaced in the rear by an insurrection of the Tyrol, and the 
arms of the Venetian Eepublic. Bonaparte then offered peace, 
which was accepted by the Cabinet of Vienna, and signed at 
Leoben (April 18, 1797,) the same day that Hoche passed the 
Rhine at Neuwied ; and two days after Moreau had passed that 
river at Strasburg. 

The preliminaries at Leoben were honourable for Austria. 
She renounced, it is true, Belgium and all her possessions in 
Italy, as far as the Oglio ; but she was indemnified by a con- 
siderable part of the Venetian territory, as well as by Istria and 
Dalmatia ; for which the Republic were to receive Bologna, 
Ferrara and Romagna ; Peschiera and Mantua Avere to be sur- 
rendered to the Emperor. France recognised the principle, that 
the integrality of the Empire Avas to be ihe basis of a pacifica- 
tion with the Germanic Body. Immediately after the peace ol 
Leoben, Bonaparte, Avithout having received orders, overturned 
the Venetian Republic, and caused his troops to occupy that 
city (May 16.) He united the provinces of Lombardy Avhich 
Austria had ceded, into a Republic, on the model of that ol 
France (June 29 ;) and this neAv State was called the Cisalpine 
Republic. He obliged the Genoese to change their government, 
and to constitute themseh'es into the Ligurian Republic (June 6.) 

The negotiations for a definitive peace A\'ere long in coming 
to a conclusion. Bonaparte regretted having promised the 
restitution of Mantua ; and the three Jacobin members of the 
Directory, Avho Avere displeased Avith the terms on Avhich the 
peace with Germany was to be founded, began to intrigue for 
the cession of the left bank of the Rhine ; and with this vieAv, 
to protract the conclusion of the peace, until the Revolution of 
the 18th Fructidor should gain their party the assendancy. The 
negotiations with Lord Malmesbury Avere immediately broken 
off; and Bonaparte threatened to resume hostilities, unless 
Austria Avould accept the conditions dictated by the New Di- 
rectory. Peace Avas at length concluded at Campo Formio near 
Udina, (Oct. 17,) by Buonaparte, and Count Louis de Cobenzl. 
The tAvo parties divided between them, it is said, the Avhole ter- 
ritory of the Republic of Venice ; so thai the Adige should be 



PERIOD IX. A. D. 1789—1815. 443 

ihe frontier on the Continent of Italy, while the Venetian Is- 
lands, on th'e coast of Albania and Turkey, should belong to 
France. Austrian Lombardy, with Peschiera and Maniua, the 
Modenois, and the Venetian territory to the west of the Adige, 
and the three Legatines of Bologna, Ferrara, and Komagna, 
were to form the Cisalpine Republic. A Congress for a treaty 
of peace with the Empire was to be opened at Eastadt. By 
certain secret articles, the Emperor consented eventually to the 
perpetual and complete cession of the left bank of the Rhine ; 
and stipulated for himself the possession of Salzburg, in case of 
a partial cession ; and greater advantages, provided the Avhole 
left bank of the Rhine were abandoned to France. The States 
of Germany, who might suffer loss by the partial or total cession 
of the left bank of the Rhine, were to receive indemnification 
m Germany, as was expressed in the treaty. A compensation 
was to be allowed to the Prince of Orange ; but this was not 
to take place in the neighbourhood of the Batavian Republic, 
nor in that of the Austrian possessions. Prus-sia was to pre 
serve her provinces on the left bank of the Rhine ; but she was 
to claim no new acquisitions in Germany. 

The Directory were not equally satisfied with all the articles 
of this treaty ; bat they durst not disavow the negotiator, who 
had assisted in accomplishing the Revolution of the 18th Fruc- 
tidor. The French government were displeased with the in- 
crease of power granted to Austria, and especially with the 
dismemberment of Bavaria, which Rewbel, who piqued himself 
on his political abilities, regarded with reason as contrary to the 
interests of France. Moreover, the articles relative to Prussia 
and the Prince of Orange were in direct opposition to the Con- 
vention of Berlin, (1794,) which was the basis of the existing 
unanimity between Prussia and France. By that Convention 
the Bishopric of Munster was made over to the King, by way of 
reimbursement for his possessions beyond the Rhine ; while the 
House of Orange was to have Wurtzburg and Bamberg. These 
circumstances obliged the Directory to conceal from the Court of 
Berlin the secret articles of the treaty of Campo Formio ; and 
this constraint greatly embarrassed them, by the mistrust which 
it excited on the part of Prussia. 

General Bonaparte, with Trielhard and Bonnier, members 
of the Convention, were appointed to negotiate at Rastadt with 
the deputation of the Empire. Bonaparte made only a short stay 
(here, to sign a secret convention with Count Louis de Cobenzl, 
(Dec. 1 ;) according to which Mayence was to be restored to the 
troops of the French RepubHc, in fulfilment of what had been 
resolved on at Campo Formio. The object which the French 



444 CHAPTER X. 

negotiators proposed, was to obtain the entire cession of the 
left banlc of the Rhine, free from all charges ; and to obtain it 
'vithout being obliged to purchase it at the price which Bona- 
parte had promised to Austria. The means for attaining the 
object were, to secure the consent of the majority of the deputa- 
tion, and the agreement of Prussia, and then to prevail with 
the latter to object to the dismemberment of Bavaria — a measure 
which would compel France to reveal the secret negotiations 
at Campo Formio. The first proposition on which these min- 
isters demanded the cession of the whole left bank of the 
Rhine, became the subject of a tedious negotiation, alternately 
promoted and thwarted by a thousand intrigues. At length 
the deputation admitted it (March 179S,) but under restrictions 
which the ministers were determined to reject. The latter then 
proposed as a second basis, the idemnification of the princes in 
possession of the left bank of the Rhine ; which was adopted 
without much difficulty ^March 15.) The third demand re- 
ferred to the manner of carrying ihe fundamental articles into 
execution. On this ground the French advanced a multitude 
of pretensions, each more unjust and more ridiculous than the 
other. 

Until then the negotiations, in all probability, were serious 
on the part of Austria and France ; as the former, supported by 
Russia, hoped to obtain the consent of Prussia to the dismem- 
berment of Bavaria ; while France, on her side, vainly antici- 
pated a strict alliance with the Cabinet of Berlin, which would 
have enabled the Directory to have dictated its own conditions 
of peace. But, towards the middle of the year, war had be- 
come inevitable, in consequence of the numerous aggressions 
which the Executive Directory had committed in diflferent coun- 
tries. To them war had become necessary to occupy their ar- 
mies. The continuation of the Congress at Rastadt, therefore, 
served merely to gain time to prepare for hostilities. If the 
Court of Vienna had flattered themselves, that the Cisalpine 
Republic would form an independent State,they were undeceived 
by the treaty of alliance with France which that Republic was 
obliged to accept, in spite of the determined refusal of the Coun- 
cil of Ancients. It was, in reality, a treaty of subjection, by 
Avhich, among other articles, it was stipulated that there should 
alwaj'^s be 25,000 French troops in the Cisalpine States, for the 
support of which they should pay eighteen millions per annum. 

A tumult having happened at Rome, in which one of the 
French generals was killed, the Directory made this a pretext 
for invading the Ecclesiastical States. General Berthier pro- 
claimed the Roman Republic (Feb. 15, 179S;) and Pope Pius 



PERIOD IX. A. D. 1789—1815. 445 

VI. was carried captive to France where he died, (Aug. 29, 1799.") 
The Directory, from no just motive, excited a revolution m 
Switzerland ; and under pretence of being invited by one of the 
parties, they sent troops into that country (Jan. 26 ;) overturned 
the existing order of things ; and under the title of the Helvetic 
Republic, they established a government entirely subject on 
their authority (April 11.) A piece of imprudence, commitV?d 
oy the French ambassador at Vienna, was the cause of a popular 
commotion there ; in consequence of which he quitted his situ-*- 
tion. This event made a great noise. It gave rise to the con- 
ferences which took place at Seltz in Alsace (April 13,) between 
the Ex-Director Francois and Count De Cobenzl ; in which 
France and Austria tried, for the last time, if it were possible to 
come to a proper understanding regarding their mutual interests. 
These conferences had no other effect than to convince the Court 
of Vienna, that they must turn the current of their politics into 
a new channel. 

A French fleet, commanded by Admiral Breueix, sailed from 

Toulon (May 19,) with General Bonaparte and 40,000 men. 

When they arrived off Malta, Bonaparte got possession of that 

island by means of a capitulation, signed in name of the order of 

St. John (June 12,) by some of the knights who had disclaimed 

all submission to the Grand Master and the Assembly of the 

States. From Malta the French fleet sailed with a fair wind 

for Egypt, and Lnded at Alexandria (July 2,) to undertake the 

conquest of that country ; although France was then at peace 

with the Porte. The English fleet, however, under Admiral 

Nelson, which had gone in quest of the French, joined them off 

Alexandria, and defeated them in an action which was fought in 

the bay of Aboukir (Aug. 1,) and which lasted thirty-six hours. 

Charles Emanuel IV., King of Sardinia, insulted in every 

kind of way by the French generals, and by his neighbours the 

Cisalpine and Ligurian Republics, resolved to shelter himself 

from these annoyances under the protection of the Directory. 

He had concluded an alliance, offensive and defensive, with 

France (April 5, 1797 ;) but the latter having demanded a new 

pledge of his friendship, he concluded a convention at Milan, by 

whicli the French government granted him their protection ; or. 

condition that he would surrender to them the citadel of his capital. 

The events which we have now detailed gave rise to a second 

coalition against France, which was entered into by Great Britain, 

Russia, Austria, the Porte, and the Two Sicilies. The two first 

of these powers promised to support the rest ; Britain furnishing 

supplies, and Russia auxiliary troops. Before taking up arms, 

the Cabinet of Vienna attempted to conciliate that of Berlin. 



446 CHAPTER X. 

With the view of compelling France to moderate some of herclaims. 
Negotiations were accordingly entered into at Berlin, at first be- 
tween the two powers alone, and afterwards under the mediatjou 
of the Emperor Paul of Russia. But in order to obtain a mutual 
co-operation, it was necessary to begin by establishing mutual 
confidence. This was impossible, as each of the Cabinets had its 
own secret, which it v.-ould not communicate to the other. Prus- 
sia had her own treaty of the 1st of August 1790; and Austria 
net secret articles of Campo Formio. The circumstance which 
determined the Emperor Paul to take a part in the war agamst 
France, was the indignation which he felt at the spoliation of 
the Knights of Malta, whom he had taken under his protection, 
and afterwards accepted the office of Grand Master of the Order 

This coalition was formed by treaties of alliance between the 
several parties respectively. Russia agreed to send an army of 
60,000 men, under Suwarow, to the Danube, and to furnish Prus- 
sia with 45,000, to be paid by Great Britain. 

After the revolution of the 18th Fructidor, the Executive Di- 
rectory of the French Republic had to struggle against the gene- 
ral discontent, as well as against the disordered state of the 
finances, and the intrigues of the Jacobins, whose influence they 
had imprudently augmented, hoping, by their means, to annihi- 
late the party of the opposition. That faction would infallibly 
have affected a counter-revolution in France, had not the Direc- 
tory, by a stretch of arbitrary power, annulled the elections of 
1798. The want of funds, which was always growing worse, 
had retarded the renewal of the war ; but wnen it broke out, the 
Directory adopted a measure which we ought not to pass in si- 
lence, as it has exercised a lasting influence on all the States of 
Europe, who were obliged to follow the example. We allude to 
the law which introduced the military conscription (Sept. 5, 1798,) 
and which was the work of General Jourdan. 

Th( Coalition was not yet consolidated, and Austria had not 
yet fin >hed her preparations for war, when the King of the Two 
Siciliet, instigated by a party who wished to urge the Cabinet of 
Vienna to greater despatch, commenced hostilities, by expelling 
the French from Rome (Nov. 24.) That enterprise failed of 
success. The Neapolitan troops, who were commanded by a 
foreigner. General Baron de Mack, showed neither discipline 
nor courage. After this first repulse, the King took shelter in 
Sicily. His capital became a prey to the most frightful anarchy. 
Mack, to save his life, deserted to the enemy. The Lazzaroni 
defended Naples against the French army, and it was not till 
after a battle of three days, that Championnet, who was at their 
head, succeeded in getting possession of the city : after which he 



PERIOD IX. A. D. 17S9— 1815. 447 

proclaimed the Parthenopean P^cpublic (Jan. 25.) General Jou- 
bert took possession of Turin ; and when the new campaign 
opened, the whole of Italy was in the hands of the French. 

The Executive Directory made these hostile preparations of 
the King of the Two Sicilies a pretext for declaring war against 
the King of Sardinia (Dec. 6, 179S,) who Avas in alliance with 
France. General Joubeit having already advanced into Pied- 
mont, Charles Emanuel I /. signed an act, drawn up by General 
Clauzel, by which he renounced the exercise of all power, and 
commanded his subjects to obey the provisional government 
which the French were about to establish. He afterwards re- 
tired into Sardinia, where he protested against the violence which 
he had experienced. 

The Congress of Rastadt had continued their sittings. On 
the 6th December 1798. the French plenipotentiaries gave in 
their ultimaturn on the third proposition relative to the mode of 
carrying into execution the two fundamental articles agreed to ; 
with a threat to quit Rastadt unless it w^as accepted within six 
days. The majority of the deputation, who were not initiated 
into the secrets of great cabinets, and who were importuned by 
a crowd of princes, nobles, and deputies under the influence 
either of interest or terror, accepted this ultimatum ; against 
which Austria, Saxony, and Hanover voted. The plenipoten- 
tiary of the Empire ratified it ; probably because the Court of 
Vienna, who were on the point of abrogating every thing that 
had passed at Rastadt, did not think it necessary to enter into 
any discussion on that subject. This finished the operations of 
the Congress. From that moment, the French plenipotentiaries 
did nothing but complain of the march of the Russian troops, 
who in effect had penetrated into Galicia, and were approaching 
the Danube. The deputation, Avhose distinctive character was 
pusillanimity, confirmed these complaints in presence of the 
Emperor (Jan. 4, 1799,) who, however, eluded giving any posi- 
tive answer, until the whole of his measures were organized. 
A French army, commanded by Jourdan, passed the Rhine, be- 
tween Strasburg and Basle. The Congress, nevertheless, con- 
tinued to sit until *\ie 7th April, when it was dissolved by Count 
Metternich, who annulled all its decisions. 

• The 28th of April was a day memorable in the annars o\ 
modern history. Some of the Austrian Hussars, within a quar- 
ter of a league of Rastadt, assassinated the French ministers 
Bonnier, Debry, and Roberjot, who were on their return to Paris. 
That deed was not authorized by the Executive Direccory, al- 
though it was attributed to them because they had artfully turned 
it to their advantage, by exciting the public mind which had 



448 CHAPTER X. 

already declared itself against the war ; neither was it author 
ized by any cabinet, or commander of the army. Its real au- 
thor has never been officially made known. 

The French Republic had already declared war against the 
Emperor and the Grand Duke of Tuscany (March 12, 1799,) 
without any apparent motive. But, before this declaration was 
made, the campaign had already opened in Switzerland, where 
General Massena had dislodged the Austrians from the country 
of the Grisons, which they had occupied in consequence of a 
treaty with the Republicans, concluded at Coire (Oct. 7, 1798.) 
The Archduke Charles, at the head of the main Austrian army, 
acquitted himself gloriously. He defeated Jourdan in several 
pitched battles at Pullendorf and Stockach (March 20, 25,) and 
compelled the army of the Danube, as it was called, to repass 
the Rhine. The remains of Jourdan's army were then united 
to that of Massena. 

In Italv, while General Macdonald, who had succeeded Cham- 
pionnet in the command, was covering Rome and Naples, Gen- 
eral Gauthier occupied Florence. Sherer, at the head of the 
army of Italy, was defeated by Kray at Legnago (March 25,) 
Roco (30,) and Verona (x^pril 5.) It was at this time that Su- 
warow arrived in Italy with the Russians, and took the chief 
command of the combined army. Moreau, who with a noble 
resignation had taken on himself the interim command of the 
French army in its present discouraging circumstances, was de- 
feated at Cassano (April 27,) and retired to Alessandria. It was 
of great importance for Suwarow to prevent Macdonald, who 
had arrived at Naples, from joining Moreau. But the two 
French generals manoeuvred so dexterously, that this junction 
took place ; although Macdonald had been attacked by Suwa- 
row near the Trebia (June 17,) where he sustained a considera- 
ble loss. The whole of Lombardy fell into the hands of the 
Allies. Mantua likewise capitulated. Joubert, who had been 
appointed General of the army of Italy, had scarcely arrived 
when he offered battle to Suwarow near Novi (Aug. 15 ;) but 
he was slain near the commencement of the action. Moreau, 
who had continued with the army as a volunteer, could not pre- 
vent the general rout. Championnet, who succeeded Joubert, 
was not more fortunate. Coni, the last place in their possession, 
having been taken (Dec. 3,) the French retired within the Ap« 
penines. 

The Archduke Charles having marched into Switzerland, 
Massena took up a strong position on the Aar and the Reuss. 
The hopes which they had entertained of bringing over Prussia 
to the coalition having entirely failed, it was agreed between 



PERIOD IX. A. D. 1789 — 1815. 449 

Great Britain and Russia (June 29,) that the army of 45,000 
men which the latter had eventually promised to place at the dis- 
posal of the King of Prussia if he became a party in the war, 
should henceforth be employed against France in Switzerland. 
Accordingly these troops, who were commanded by Prince Kor- 
sakoff, having arrived on the Limmat, the Archduke joined to 
them 30,000 Austrians ; while with the rest of his troops he 
marched towards the Rhine, where a new French army had 
occupied Heidelberg and Manheim. The Archduke compelled 
them to repass the river, and took Manheim by assault (Sept. 18.)^ 

After the battle of Novi, Suwarow quitted Italy with the 
Russians whose number was now reduced to 24,000 men, to 
march on the Limmat, and take the command of the allied army 
in Switzerland. Massena, who was anxious to prevent this 
junction, attacked Korsakoff, and defeated him near Zurich (Sept. 
24;) which obliged him to evacuate Switzerland. Suwarow, 
whose march across the Alps had now become very dangerous, 
accomplished it nevertheless with boldness and celerity; and 
although he had to encounter Leccurbe who wished to intercept 
him, and afterwards Massena who was in pursuit of him, he 
crossed the small cantons of the Grisons, and effected a union 
with the remains of Korsakoff's army. 

The Roman and Parthenopean Republics had fallen to pieces 
after the departure of Macdonald. Ancona, where he had left 
a body of troops, did not surrender until the 29th of November. 
The combined fleets of the Turks and Russians, about the end 
of the year 1798, had taken possession of the French islands 
that had formerly belonged to the Venetians. Corfu held out till 
the 1st of March 1799. The Archduke Charles having advanced 
on Switzerland after the defeat of Korsakoff, Lecourbe, who had 
been called to the command of the army of Alsace, passed the 
Rhine ; but he was soon after compelled to return to the left 
bank of that river. 

In virtue of a convention which was concluded at St. Peters- 
burg (June 22,) the Emperor Paul, in addition to the 105,000 
men which he had already despatched, engaged to furnish 17,500 
more. These with 12,000 English, under the command of the 
Duke of York, attempted to make a descent on Holland, and 
landed at Holder. This expedition proved a total failure. The 
Duke of York, after having been worsted in several engage- 
ments with General Brune, evacuated the country, in conse- 
quence of a capitulation signed at Alkmaar (Oct. 18, 1799.) 
These disasters were but feebly compensated by the taking of 
Surinam (Aug. 16,) the last of the Dutch colonies which fell 
into the hands of the English. 

^ 29 



450 CHAPTER X. 

While these events were transacting in Europe, Bonaparte 
had subdued the greater part of Egypt ; but he was less suc- 
cessful in the expedition which he undertook against Syria. 
Being obliged to raise the siege of Acre (May 19,) after sus- 
taining considerable losses, he returned to Egypt with the feeble 
remains of his army. Shortly after (July 15,) a Turkish fleet 
appeared off Aboukir, and landed a body of troops, who took 
possession of that fort. Bonaparte directed his march against 
them, beat them, and almost totally annihilated them (July 25;) 
but being displeased at the Directory, Avho had left him without 
support, and having heard of their disorganization, he resolved 
to return to Europe. He embarked secretly (Aug. 23,) and 
landed at Frejus on the coast of Provence (Oct. 9, 1799.) 

At the time of his arrival, France was in a state of the most 
violent commotion. The Council of Five Hundred was become 
more and more Jacobinical, in consequence of new elections. 
Sieyes, Gohier, Roger Ducos, and Moulins, with Barras, Direc- 
tor of the Ancients, formed the government. The revolutionary 
measures which were adopted by the Council, seemed a pre- 
lude to the return of Terror. Such was the law which author- 
ized the Directory to take hostages among the relations of the 
emigrants (July 12 ;) and the loan of a hundred millions, which 
was decreed (Aug. 6.) 

In the west, the Chouans had organized a new insurrection 
under the conduct of George Cadoudal and the Counts de Frot- 
te, D'Autichamp, and de Bourmont. Disturbances had broken 
out in other provinces ; the government had fallen into contempt ; 
a general restlessness had taken possession of the public mind. 
Barras and Sieyes were perfectly conscious that this state of 
things could not continue. Each of them, separately, had con- 
trived the plan of a new revolution ; and each of them endeav- 
oured to make a partisan of General Bonaparte, who had just 
arrived in Paris, and on whom the hopes of France seemed at 
that time to depend. The General deceived Barras, and entered 
into a conspiracy with Siej'^es and the more powerful mem- 
bers of the Council of Ancients. On the 18th Brumaire (Nov. 
9, 1799,) the Council nominated Bonaparte commandant of the 
troops ; abolished the Directory ; and ordered the Legislative 
Assembly to be transferred to St. Cloud. The meeting which 
took place next day was a scene of great turbulence. Bonaparte 
ineffectually attempted to defend himself in the Council of Five 
Hundred, when the firmness of his brother Lucien and the gren- 
adiers of the guard alone secured his safety. The Council was 
dissolved, and the constitution of the year Three abolished (Nov. 
11.) A provisional government was established, consisting of 



PERIOD IX. A. D. 1789 — 1815. 451 

Sieves, Roger Ducos, and Bonaparte. A legislative commission 
of twenty-five members were charged to draw up the plan of a 
new constitution. 

The new constitution was announced on the 22d of Frimaire, 
of the year Eight (13th Dec. 1799.) The republican forms were 
preserved ; and the government, in appearance, was intrusted to 
a Council of three persons, appointed for ten years, and decorated 
with the title of Consuls, viz. Bonaparte, Cambaceres, and Le 
Brun ; but in reality to the first only, on whom they conferred a 
power truly monarchical. The other constituted bodies were a 
Conservative Senate, contrived by Sieyes, to be the guardian of 
the public liberties ; a Tribunal of one hundred members, whose 
business it was to discuss such forms of law as the government 
laid before them ; and a Legislative Body of three hundred 
members, who gave their vote without any previous debate. 
Bonaparte seized the reins of government with a firm hand. He 
abrogated several of the revolutionary laws, amalgamated its 
different parts into a system, and by degrees organized the most 
complete despotism. He consolidated his power by quashing 
the insurrection in the West. By his orders. Generals Brune 
and Hedouville concluded a peace (Jan. IS, 1800,) first with the 
Vendeans at Montfau^on, and afterwards with the Chouans. He 
gave a most striking example of perfidy, by causing the brave 
Frotte to be shot a few days after. But he conciliated the af- 
fection of his subjects by the restoration of religion, which he 
established by means of a Concordat with the Court of Rome, 
(July 15, 1801.) 

Bonaparte was no sooner placed at the head of the govern- 
ment, than he proposed to make peace with England, by means 
of a letter (Dec. 26, 1799,) not written, according to etiquette, by 
one of his ministers to the Secretary of State for Foreign Af- 
fairs, but in his own hand, and addressed to King George III., 
whom he complimented for his patriotic virtues. He stated the 
necessity for peace ; and trusted, that two nations so enlightened 
as France and Great Britain, would no longer be actuated by 
false ideas of glory and greatness. This step, made in so un- 
usual a form, could not possibly have a successful result, espe- 
cially as Mr. Pitt was determined to employ all the resources of 
England to overthrow the revolutionary despotism which the 
First Consul was endeavouring to establish in France. That 
great statesman endeavoured, by the treaties of subsidy which 
we have already mentioned, to repair the loss which the coalition 
had just suffered by the retirement of Paul I., who being morti- 
fied with the bad success of the Russian arms, which he ascribed 



452 CHAPTER X. 

lo the allies themselves, had recalled his troops at the beginning 
of the year ISOO. 

General Melas, who commanded the Austrians in Italy, open- 
ed the campaign of 1800 in the most splendid manner. In con- 
sequence of the victory which he gained over Massena at Voltri 
(April 10,) the latter was obliged to throw himself into Genoa, 
where he sustained a siege of six weeks with great courage. 
Melas made himself master of Nice (May 11,) and Souchet 
passed the Var on his march to Provence. But, in a short time, 
Bonaparte, at the head of a new army which collected at Dijon, 
passed the Alps, and took possession of Milan (June 2 ;) while 
Melas was not yet aware that his army was in existence. For^ 
tunately for the latter, Massena was obliged to surrender Genoa 
at that very time, (June 5,) which placed the corps of General 
Ott at his disposal. He had found it difficult, with his small 
garrison, to preserve order among the inhabitants, of whom 
15,000 are said to have perished by famine or disease during 
the blockade. General Ott was defeated by Berthierat Monte- 
bello (June 9.) Melas himself engaged General Bonaparte at 
Marengo (June 14.) Victory was already within his grasp, 
when the arrival of the brave Desaix with his division, disap- 
pointed him of the triumph. The defeat had a most discourag- 
ing effect on General Melas, and cost Austria the whole of 
Lombardy. A truce which was concluded at Alessandria (June 
16,) put Bonaparte in possession of that town ; as well as of 
Tortona, Turin, Placentia, Coni, Genoa, &c. The Austrians 
retired beyond the Mincio. 

Moreau, at the head of a French army, had passed the Rhine 
(April 25,) and defeated Kray in several engagements. The 
Austrians then retired within the Upper Palatinate. Moreau 
had already made himself master of Munich, when he received 
the news of the truce at Alessandria. He then concluded an 
armistice at Parsdorf (July 15.) The Count St. Julien, who 
had been sent by the Emperor Francis II. to Paris, having 
signed the preliminaries of peace without sufficient authority, 
the Court of Vienna refused to ratify them, as they had engaged 
not to make peace without the consent of England. Hostilities 
were to recommence in Germany in the month of September ; 
but the Archduke John, who commanded the Austrian army in 
Bavaria, having requested that the armistice should be prolonged. 
General Moreau consented, on condition that Philipsburg, Ulm, 
and Ingolstadt, should be given up to him. This arrangement 
was signed at Hohenlinden (Sept. 20,) and France immediately 
demolished the fortifications of these two places. Hostilities 
having recommenced about the end of November, General Mo- 



PERIOD IX. A. D. 1789—1815. 453 

reau defeated the army of the Archduke John, at the memorable 
battle of Hohenlinden (Dec. 3 ;) after which he marched in all 
haste on Vienna. Austria being released from her engagements 
by the Cabinet of London, then declared that she was determined 
to make peace, whatever might be the resolutions of England; 
on which a new armistice was concluded at Steyr (Dec. 25.) 
Braunau and Wurtzburg were delivered up to the French. 

General Brune, who commanded in Italy, renewed the truce 
of Alessandria by the convention of Castiglione (Sept. 29,) and 
thus gained time to take possession of Tuscany, which they had 
forgot to include in the truce. Being reinforced by the army of 
Macdonald, who had arrived in Lombardy, he passed the Brenta; 
after traversing, by a perilous march, the lofty mountain of Splu- 
gen. In virtue of a new truce, signed at Treviso, the French 
obtained the recovery of Peschiera, the forts of Verona, Legnago 
Fermo, and Ancona. 

Meantime, negotiations for peace had been entered into at 
Luneville, between Joseph Bonaparte and Count Louis de 
Cobenzl. The First Consul having refused to ratify the armis- 
tice of Treviso, because it had left Mantua in the hands of the 
Avistrians, the Imperial plenipotentiary at Luneville signed an 
additional convention, by which that place was delivered over to 
the French. Peace between Austria and France was signed a 
few days after (Feb. 9 ;) and Francis II., at the same time, made 
stipulations for the Empire. He ceded the Belgic provinces, 
the county of Falkenstein and Frickthal. In Italy, the frontier 
line between Austria and the Cisalpine Republic was traced, so 
that the Adige should separate the two States, and the cities of 
Verona and Porto Legnago should be divided between them. 
The other conditions were, that the Grand Duke of Modena 
should have Brisgau in exchange for his dutchy ; that the Grand 
Duke of Tuscany should renounce his grand dutchy, and receive 
a free and competent indemnity in Germany ; that the Empire 
should give up all the left bank of the Rhine ; that the hereditary 
princes, who lost their territories in consequence of these ces- 
sions, should receive compensation from the Empire ; and lastly, 
that the Germanic Body should ratify the peace within the space 
of thirty days. By a secret article, Saltzburg, Berchtolsgaden, 
Passau, the bishopric and city of Augsburg, Kempten, and twelve 
other immediate abbeys, besides nineteen Imperial cities in 
Swabia, including Ulm and Augsburg, were secured to the 
Grand Duke of Tuscany. The Empire showed great anxiety 
to ratify this peace, which was the precursor of its annihilation 

The English had compelled General Vaubois to surrender the 
Isle of Malta. After the flight of Bonaparte from Egypt, Kleber 



454 CHAFTER X. 

hud taken the command of the French army, which was thrn 
reduced to 12,000 men. A convention was concluded at El 
Arisch with the Grand Vizier who had arrived from Syria at 
the head of a formidable army, by which the French General 
engaged to evacuate the country. The English government 
having refused to ratify this treaty, unless Kleber would surren- 
der himself prisoner of war, that General immediately attacked 
the Grand Vizier, and defeated him at El Hanka (March 20 ;) 
after which he again subdued Cairo, which had raised the stand- 
ard of revolt. The English Government were willing to ratify 
the convention of the 24th January ; but General Menou having 
succeeded Kleber who had fallen by the dagger of a Turkish 
fanatic, was determined to maintain himself in Egypt, in spite 
of an evident impossibility. Sir Ralph Abercromby, the Eng- 
lish commander, who arrived with a British force, effected his 
landing at Aboukir (March 8, 1801.) Menou was defeated in 
the battle of Rahmanieh, near Alexandria (March 21,) which 
cost General Abercromby his life. But the French soon saw 
themselves assailed on all hands by the Turks and the English, 
who had been recalled from the East Indies, and had disem- 
barked on the shores of the Red Sea. General Belliard, who 
had the command at Cairo, concluded a capitulation (June 27,) 
in virtue of which he was sent back to France with the troops 
under his orders. Menou found himself obliged to follow his 
example, and capitulated at Alexandria to General Hutchinson 
(Aug. 30,) who consented to the safe conveyance of the French 
troops to their native country. Thus ended an expedition, 
which, had it proved successful, must have become fatal to the 
British Empire in India, and given a new direction to the com- 
merce of the world. 

Various treaties were concluded between the peace of Lune- 
ville and that of Amiens, which put an entire end to the war. 
(1.) General Murat, who commanded the army in Italy, having 
shown some disposition to carry the war into the kingdom of 
Naples, Ferdinand IV. concluded an armistice at Foligno (Feb. 
18,) which he afterwards converted into a treaty of peace at Flo- 
rence. He gave up the State of Presidii, and his share of the 
island of Elba and of the principality of Piombino. By a secret 
article, he agreed that 16,000 French troops should occupy the 
peninsula of Otranto and part of Abruzzo, until the conclusion 
of peace with England and the Porte. (2.) Portugal, since the 
year 1797, had wished to withdraw from the first coalition, and 
even concluded a peace with the Executive Directory at Paris 
(Aug. 10 ;) but the English squadron of Admiral St. Vincent 
having entered the Tagus, the Queen refused to ratify that 



PERIOD IX. A. D. 1789 — 1815. 455 

treaty. Portugal thus continued at war with France until 1801. 
The French army, which was already in Spain, having shown 
some disposition to enter Portugal, peace was concluded at Ma- 
drid between Lucien Bonaparte and M. Freire (Sept. 29,) the 
ministers of the two States at the Court of Spain. Portugal 
shut her ports against the English, and regulated the frontiers 
of Guiana, so as to prove advantageous to France. (3.) In Rus- 
sia Bonaparte had succeeded to a certain extent in conciliating 
the good will of the Emperor Paul. Nevertheless, at the death 
of that prince (Oct. 8, 1801,) there existed no treaty of peace 
between Russia and France. A treaty, however, was signed 
at Paris in the reign of Alexander, by Count Markoflf and Tal- 
leyrand (Oct. 11,) and followed by a very important special con- 
vention by which, among other things, it was agreed : That the 
two governments should form a mutual agreement, as to the 
principles to be followed with respect to indemnifications in 
Germany ; as well as to determine respecting those in Italy, 
and to maintain a just equilibrium between the Houses of Aus- 
tria and Brandeburg : That France should accept the mediation 
of Prussia, for the pacification with the Porte : That the inte- 
grality of the kingdom of the Two Sicilies should be maintained, 
according to the treaty of the 2Sth March, 1801 ; and that the 
French troops should evacuate the country as soon as the fate 
of Egypt was decided : That a friendly disposition should be 
shown to the interests of the King of Sardinia; and that the 
Elector of Bavaria and the Duke of Wurtemberg should be com- 
pensated for their losses, by a full indemnity in Germany. (4.) 
Immediately after General Menon had signed the capitulation 
of Alexandria, the preliminaries of peace between France and 
the Porte were concluded at Paris (Oct. 9 ;) but they were not 
confirmed into a definitive peace, until after the preliminaries 
were signed at London (June 25, 1802.) The free navigation 
of the Black Sea was secured to the French flag. 

When Mr. Pitt had quilted the English ministry, France and 
England came to terms of better accommodation. The first ad- 
vances were made on the side of the latter power. The preli- 
minaries were signed at London, between Lord Hawkesbury 
and M. Otto ; including their respective allies (Oct. 1, 1801.) 
Of ail her conquests. Great Britain was to retain only the Island 
of Trinidad, and the Dutch possessions in Ceylon. Malta was 
to be restored to the Knights of St. John, under the protection 
of a third power ; and Egypt was to belong to the Porte. The 
French troops were to abandon the kingdom of Naples, and the 
English to quit Porto Ferrajo. France was to acknowledge 
the Republic of the Seven Islands, which was composed of Corfu 
and the six other islands formerly belonging to the Venetians 



456 CHAPTER X. 

For carrying these preliminaries into execution, a Congress 
was opened at Amiens, where Joseph Bonaparte appeared for 
France, Lord Cornwallis for England, the Chevalier Azara for 
Spain, and M. Schimmelpenninck for the Batavian Republic. 
Some unexpected difficulties arose with regard to Malta, as Great 
Britain had repented of having given it up in the preliminary 
treaty. They found means, however, to remove these obstacles ; 
and the peace of Amiens was finally signed after a negotiation 
of six months (March 27, 1802.) 

We shall only take notice here in what respects these articles 
differed from the preliminaries. With regard to the stipulation 
respecting the surrender of Malta to the Knights of St. John, 
several modifications were added, viz. as to the election of a new 
Grand Master ; the suppression of the French and English 
Langues, or class of Knights ; the institution of a Maltese Langue; 
the time for its evacuation ; and the future appointment of the 
garrison. Finally, it was said in the treaty, that the indepen- 
dence of that island and its present arrangement, were placed 
under the guaranty of France, Great Britain, Austria, Spain, 
Russia and Prussia. It may be mentioned, that Russia and 
Prussia declined to undertake that guaranty, unless certain 
modifications were added. This refusal furnished England with 
a pretext for refusing to part with that island ; and the war, as 
we shall soon find, was recommenced rather than give up that 
important possession. 

One article of the treaty of Amiens having promised the Prince 
of Orange a compensation for the losses he had sustained in the 
late Republic of the United Provinces, both in private property 
and expenses, another convention was signed at Amiens between 
France and the Batavian States, importing that that compensa- 
tion should in no case fall to the charge of the latter. 

There is one essential observation which we must make on 
the peace of Amiens. Contrary to the general practice, the for- 
mer treaties between France and Great Britain were not renewed 
by that of Amiens. It is not difficult to perceive the cause of 
this silence. At the time when the peace of Utrecht was con- 
cluded. Great Britain had an interest in having the principle ol 
free commerce for neutral States held sacred ; and she had con- 
sequently announced it in the treaty of navigation and commerce, 
which was concluded in 1713. All the following treaties, until 
that of 1783 inclusive, having renewed the articles of Utrecht, 
the silence on this subject at Amiens placed Great Britain, in 
this respect, on the footing of a common right, which, according 
to the system of the English, would not have been favourable to 
the principle of a free trade, — a doctrine which it was for their 



PERIOD TX. A. D. 17S9— 1815. 457 

interest to suppress, since they had then the command of the sea. 
We have now brought down the history of the French Re\'<^- 
lution, from its commencement to the year 1802, when the 
French power began to preponderate in Europe. The influ- 
ence of the Eepublic was enormously great. The Netherlands 
and a flourishing portion of Germany, as well as Geneva, Sa- 
voy, and Piedmont, were incorporated with the territories which 
had been governed by Louis XVI. The Dutch and the Cisal- 
pine States, including the Milanois, a considerable part of the 
Venetian territories, the dutchies of Mantua, Modena and Par- 
ma, besides some of the Ecclesiastical provinces, had bowed their 
neck to the yoke of the First Consul. The Swiss, enslaved by 
the Directory, had not been able to recover their ancient inde- 
pendence. Tuscany and the Ligurian Republic durst not pre- 
sume to dispute the will of the conqueror ; while Spain, forget- 
ful of her ancient dignity, was reduced to a state of subservient 
and degraded alliance. It will be now necessary, according to 
the plan of this work, that we take a survey of the more remark- 
able events which happened in the course of the preceding thir- 
teen years, in the other States of Europe. 

Portugal had been a co-partner in the first coalition against 
France, and had furnished a body of 6000 troops to Spain, and 
some ships of war to England. We have already related how 
Mary I. was prevented from disengaging herself from the treaty 
of 1797. The Prince of Brazil, who had assumed the regency 
(July 15, 1799) in consequence of the infirm state of his mother's 
health, took a more decided part in the second coalition, by sign- 
ing an alliance with Russia (Sept. 28.) This alliance drew him 
into a war with Spain. The Duke of Alcudia, usually styled 
the Prince of Peace, seized several cities in Portugal without 
much difficulty ; as her army was in as bad condition as her fi- 
nances. A peace was speedily concluded at Badajos (June 6, 
1801.) Portugal agreed to shut her ports against English ves- 
sels ; and ceded to Spain Olivenqa, and the places situated on 
the Guadiana. The engagement respecting English vessels was 
renewed by the peace of Madrid (Sept. 29,) which reconciled 
Portugal with France. 

In Spain, Charles IV. had succeeded his father Charles III. 
(Dec. 13, 1788;) Philip, the eldest son, having been declared 
incapable of reigning, on account of his deficiency of intellect. 
That prince, who had no pleasure but in the chase, gave himself 
up entirely to that amusement. He was the jest of the Queen 
and her favourites, to whom he abandoned the cares of govern- 
ment. In 1790 a difference which had arisen with England 
respecting the right of property to Nootka Sound in North Ameri- 



458 CHAPTER X. 

ca, was on the point of interrupting the repose of this indolent 
monarch. But matters were adjusted by a convention signed 
at the Escurial (Oct. 28, 1790,) by which Spain renounced her 
rights over that distant possession. The chief favourite since 
1790, had been Don Manuel Godoy, created Duke of Alcudia ; 
a weak minister, under whom every thing became venal, and 
the whole nation corrupt. The revolutionary principles Avhich 
had taken root there after the expulsion of the Jesuits, as suffi- 
cient care had not been taken to supply the place of these fathers 
with other public instructors of youth, were readily propagated 
under so vicious an administration ; especially after the publica- 
tion of the famous Memoir of Jovellanos (1795,) on the improve- 
ments of agriculture and the Agrarian Law ; a work which was 
composed by order of the Council of Castille, and written with 
clearness and simplicity. The author, no doubt, deserved credit 
for the purity of his sentiments ; but in his enthusiasm for the 
objects which he recommended, he overlooked all existing laws ; 
encouraged the spoliation of the church, the crowii, and the com- 
munity ; as well as the suppression of corporations, and condi- 
tionariegacies, or liferents ; in short, a total and radical subver- 
sion of the institutions of the country. This work may be said 
to have produced a revolution in Spain ; for the Cortes of Cadiz 
did no more than carry into execution the schemes of Jovellanos. 
If the Prince of Peace failed in conducting the administration 
of the interior, he was not more successful in making the crown 
of Spain respected abroad. By the peace of Basle (July 22, 
1795,) Charles IV. renounced the Spanish part of St. Domingo. 
By the alliance offensive and defensive of St. Idlefonso (Aug. 
19, 1796,) Spain identified herself with the French system. 
The war with Great Britain ruined her marine. Admiral Jer- 
vis defeated the Spanish fleet off Cape St. Vincent (Feb. 14 
1797,) commanded by Admiral Cordova. It was in this engage 
ment that Captain Nelson, afterwards so famous, established his 
fame, by the courage and conduct which he displayed. Admiral 
Hervey conquered the important island of Trinidad (Feb. 18.) 
General Stewart without much difficulty took possession of Mi- 
norca (Nov. 7, 1798.) The alliance of Spain with France was 
also the reason why the Emperor Paul declared war against 
her, after his accession to the coalition (July 27, 1799.) The 
Porte followed the example of Russia (Oct. 1, 1801.) After the 
peace of Luneville, a reconciliation with the former power was 
signed at Paris (October 4.) The war which Spain was obliged 
to wage with Portugal, procured her the city of 01iven9a, which 
was ceded by the peace of Badajos (June 9.) 

By the treaty signed at St. Ildefonso, Spain surrendered Lou- 



PERIOD IX. A. D. 17S9— 1815. 459 

isiana to Bonaparte ; and eventually the State of Parma (Ucto- 
ber 1, 1800.) She also surrendered to him five ships of the line, 
besides a considerable sum of money vi'^hich she paid him ; and 
all this on the faith of his promising to procure the Grand Dutchy 
of Tuscany, with the title of Royalty, to the King's son-in-law, 
the Infant of Parma. These stipulations were more clearly 
established by the treaty v/hich Lucien Bonaparte and the Prince 
of Peace afterwards signed at Madrid (March 21, 1801.) The 
peace of Amiens cost Spain no other sacrifice than the Island of 
Trinidad, which she was obliged to abandon to England ; en- 
tirely on the decision of Bonaparte, who did not even ask the 
consent of Charles IV. Spain had lost all sort of respect or 
consideration, both from the universal and contemptible weak- 
ness of her government, and because she had voluntarily placed 
herself under dependence to France. 

From the very commencement of this period. Great Britain 
had been preserved from the influence of the revolutionary prin- 
ciples, which had a great many partisans in that kingdom, by 
the firmness of her Prime Minister, William Pitt, and the splen- 
did eloquence of Edmund Burke, a member of the House of 
Commons. Pitt consolidated the sj^stem of finance, by extend- 
ing the sinking fund, which he had created in 1786. He gave 
vigour to the government, by obtaining the suspension of the Ha- 
heus Corpiis Act ; and by means of the Alien Bill (Jan. 4, 1793,) 
which allowed the magistrate an extensive authority in the sur- 
veillance of foreigners. The greatest number of malcontents 
appeared in Ireland, and these consisted chiefly of Catholics ; 
although an act, passed in 1793, had rendered the Catholics 
eligible to almost all official employments. That island never- 
theless was the theatre of several conspiracies, the design of 
which was to render it independent. Their leaders acted in 
unison with the French, who made attempts at difl^erent times 
to effect a landing in that country. Fifteen thousand troops, ac- 
companied by eighteen sail of the line, embarked for that pur- 
pose from Brest harbour in the month of December. But thia 
formidable armament had scarcely put '.o sea, when they were 
overtaken by a storm. Eight of these vessels reached the Irish 
coast, and appeared off Bantray Bay ; but they were forced from 
that station by another tempest, when they returned to France 
with the loss of two ships of the line, some frigates having nar- 
rowly escaped falling in with two squadrons of the English 
navy. 

At length, as a remedy for this political mischief, the union of 
Ireland with Great Britain was effected, so that both kingdoms 
should have one and the same Parliament ; and George III. as- 



460 CHAPTER X. 

sumed the title of King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain 
and Ireland (July 2, 1800.) 

Great Britain was the moving principle of the two first coali- 
tions against France, although she fought rather with money 
than with troops. She succeeded in ruining the marine and 
the commerce of hoth France and Spain ; and obtained the com- 
plete command of the sea. A short time before the death of 
Paul I., she was involved in a war with the powers of the North. 
The resentment of that Prince against the Cabinet of London, 
for refusing to put him in possession of Malta, which the English 
troops had seized, was the true cause of hostilities ; although a 
litigated question of public right was made the pretext. The 
point at issue was, whether the convoy granted to the merchant 
ships of neutral states by their sovereign, protected them from 
being searched by those of the belligerent powers, or not. Den- 
mark, with whom the discussion first arose, maintained the affir- 
mative, and England the negative ; although it was not till the 
end of the year 1799 that she maintained this doctrine. At 
that time there had been some misunderstanding between Ad- 
miral Keith, the commander of the British forces in the Medi- 
terranean, and Captain Van Dockum, who was convoying a fleet 
of Danish merchantmen. In the month of July following, the 
Danish frigate La Freya, which had attempted to defend her 
convoy against a search of the English cruisers, was taken and 
carried into the Downs. 

These acts of violence gave rise to a very warm discussion 
between the Courts of London and Copenhagen. The formei 
having sent a fleet to the Sound, commanded by Admiral Dick- 
son, Denmark was obliged to yield to the tempest, but in a man- 
ner very honourable. By a convention which was signed at 
Copenhagen (Aug. 29, 1800,) the decision of the question was 
remitted for further discussion. The English Government re- 
leased the Freya, and the King of Denmark promised to suspend 
the convoys. 

This accommodation did not meet with the approval of the 
Emperor Paul. That prince, who entertained lofty ideas, but 
who yielded too often to his passions, had determined to revive 
the principles of the Armed Neutrality, according to the treaty 
of 1780, and to compel England to acknowledge them. He in- 
vited Denmark and Sweden, in so very peremptory a manner, to 
join with him for this purpose, that these States could not refuse 
their consent without coming to an open rupture with him. This 
agreement Avith the courts of Copenhagen, Sweden and Berlin 
was finally settled by the conventions signed at St. Petersburg 
(Dec. 16, and 18.) As Great Britain could not find a more con- 



PERIOD IX. A. D. 17S9 1815. 



461 



venient occasion than that of her maritime preponderance, foi 
deciding- those questions on which she had maintained silenct 
in 1780, war was declared ; and hostilities commenced in course 
of a few months. A body of Danish troops occupied Hamburg 
and Lubec. The Prussians took possession of Bremen and 
Hanover (April 3.) An English flee'., consisting of seventeen 
sail of the line, commanded by Admirals Sir Hyde Parker and 
Lord Nelson, forced the passage of the Sound without sustain- 
ing much injury (March 30.) A squadron under Lord Nelson 
engaged the Danish fleet before Copenhagen (April 3,) which 
was commanded by Admiral Olfart Fischer. The action was 
spirited on both sides, and added a new wreath to the fame of 
Nelson ; and although the Danes were obliged to yield to the 
superiority of British valour, they acquitted themselves bravely 
and honourably. Within seven days after, an armistice was 
concluded. 

Admiral Parker continued his route by the Baltic and arrived 
before Carlscrona (April 19,) where he was on the eve of com- 
mencing hostilities against Sweden, when he was apprised of 
the death of the Emperor Paul. That event dissolved the League 
of the North, and put an end to the war. By a convention 
which the Emperor Alexander concluded at St. Petersburg 
(June 17,) the principles of maritime law which the English had 
professed were recognised. The other powers of the North ac- 
ceded to this convention. The Danes evacuated Hamburg and 
Lubec ; but Prussia continued in possession of Hanover until 
the conclusion of the peace between France and England. 

With regard to Holland, the twenty years which elapsed be- 
tween 1795 and 1814 formed an era of calamities and disasters. 
The Patriots, who comprehended the middle class of the Dutch 
community, had gained the ascendancy on the entrance of the 
French army ; one consequence of which was, the abolition of 
the Stadtholdership. But that party became sensible of their 
error, when they saw the ruin of their country. The indepen- 
dence of their Republic was acknowledged by the treaty of the 
Hague (May 16, 1795,) which, by giving it France for an ally, 
subjected it in effect to that power ; and reduced it to the con- 
dition of a province, — the more neglected, as it was not entirely 
united. The constitution which the Batavian Republic (the 
title which it assumed) had adopted, vacillated between two op- 
posite systems, the adherents of which could come to no agree- 
ment ; — namely, that of a United and that of a Federal republic. 
While these matters were under debate, the English, who had 
joined the Stadtholder's party, stripped the Republic of its colo- 
nies ; destroyed its marine, particularly in the action which Ad- 



462 CHAPTER X. 

miral Duncan fought with De Winter near Camperdovvn (Oil 
n, 1797 ;) and annihilated her commerce and her navigation 
by blockading her coasts, — not excepting even her fisheries. 

The overthrow of the ancient Helvetic Confederacy, is un« 
doubtedly one of the high crimes with which history has to re- 
proach the Executive Directory of France. The constitution 
drawn up by MM. Ochs and La Harpe after the model of that 
of France, which excluded the federative system, was published 
by the French party (May 30, 1798,) in spite of the modifica- 
tions which the more judicious patriots had attempted to intro- 
duce ; and supported by the French army under General Schau- 
enburg. To compel the smaller cantons to submit to this yoke, 
it was necessary to have recourse to fire and sword. The 
Grisons found means, however, to evade it by receiving an Aus- 
trian army among them, in virtue of a convention which was 
concluded at Coire (Oct. 17 ;) and it was not till after the unfor- 
tunate campaign of 1799, that they were compelled to renounce 
their independence. France appropriated to herself the Swiss 
part of the bishopric of Basle, and the cities of Mulhouse and 
Geneva. The terms of subjection on which the Helvetic Re- 
public was to stand in future with France, were determined by 
an alliance, offensive and defensive, concluded at Paris (Aug. 
19.) Switzerland henceforth renounced that neutrality which 
for centuries she had regarded as the pledge and safeguard of 
her liberties. 

The animosity which reigned between the Unionists and the 
Federalists, caused several revolutions in the government of 
that Republic. But as these intrigues were carried on, on a 
small scale, and have left few traces behind, it is unnecessary 
here to enter into any detail. If the Revolution in Switzerland 
did not produce a single man remarkable for great talents, or of 
a commanding character, the religious spirit of the country, the 
instruction of the people, and the diffusion of knowledge, at 
least preserved them from those crimes and excesses which 
stained the Revolutionists in France. 

At the peace of Amiens all Italy, with the exception of a part 
of the Venetian territory which was united to Austria, had 
yielded to the dominion of France. The King of the Two Si- 
cilies alone had still maintained a sort of independence. In 
no country had the revolutionary principles of the eighteenth 
century found more abettors among the higher classes than in 
Piedmont. The King of Sardinia was the first sovereign whose 
throne was undermined by their influence. Scarcely had Vic- 
tor Amadeus III., who ascended the throne in 1773, joined the 
league against France (July 25, 1792,) when the Republican 



PERIOD IX. A.D.I ^9 — 1815. 463 

armies attacked, and made an easy conquest of Savoy and Nice. 
Great Britain granted him, by the treaty of London (April 25, 
1793,) subsidies for carrying on the war with vigour. We 
have related above the disasters which he met with in the war 
against France. The peace of Paris cost him the sacrifice of 
two provinces. In vain did his son Charles Emanuel IV. hope 
to save the remainder of his estates, by becoming an ally of the 
French Directory at the treaty of Turin, (April 5, 1797.) His 
political influence was lost ; they knew they could command any 
thing from that ally. Their first request was the surrender of 
the city of Turin, by the convention of Milan (June 28, 1798.) 
The Directory afterwards declared war against that prince with- 
out any grounds; and he could not obtain permission to retire 
to Sardinia, except by signing a kind of abdication (Dec, 9 ;) 
against which he afterwards protested. Piedmont was thus 
governed entirely according to the pleasure of France ; and 
immediately after the peace of Amiens, it was definitively an- 
nexed to her territories. 

Austrian Lombardy (with the exception of Mantua,) the 
dutchy of Modena, the three Legatines ceded by Pius VI., and 
a part of the Venetian territory, formed the Cisalpine Eepublic, 
which Bonaparte declared independent, bv the preliminaries of 
Leoben (June 29, 1797.) He soon after "(Oct. 22,) added to it 
the Valteline, Chiavenna, and Bormio, which he had taken from 
the Grisons ; and at a later period (Sept. 7, 1800,) he added a 
part of Piedmont, viz. the Novarese, and the country beyond ihe 
Sesia. Mantua was likewise annexed to this Republic at the 
peace of Luneville. Its connexions with France had been de- 
termined by the aUiance of 1798, which were more servile than 
those in which the Batavian Republic, and afterwards that of 
Switzerland, were placed. In this pretended Republic, France 
exercised an absolute power; she changed its constitution at 
pleasure, appointed and deposed its highest functionaries as suit- 
ed her convenience. The victories of Suwarow put an end for 
some time to the existence of that State ; but after the battle of 
Marengo, matters were replaced on their ancient footing. 

The Republic of Genoa, distracted by innovations at home, 
and threatened from abroad by England and France, hesitated 
for some time as to the system v/hich they should adopt. But 
after the French had become masters of the Bocchetta, the 
Senate consented, by a treaty concluded at Paris (Oct. 9, 1796,) 
to give them a sum of money, and shut their ports against the 
English. After the preliminaries of Leoben, this Republic ac- 
cepted a democratic constitution from the hand of Bonaparte, 
according to the treaty of Montebello (June 6, 1797.) It paid 



464 CHAPTER X. 

large sums of money, and was gratified by the Imperial fiefs 
which Bonaparte added to its territory. It then took the name 
of the Ligurian Republic (June 11.) We have ai)eady men- 
tioned how the Grand Duke of Tuscany was unjustly deprived 
of his estates, which Bonaparte made over by the treaty of St. 
Ildefonso to the hereditary Prince of Parma, son-in-law to 
Charles IV. of Spain. This young prince was proclaimed King 
of Etruria, (Aug. 2, ISOl,) and acknowledged by all the Euro- 
neaii powers; but during his brief reign, he was more a vassal 
of Bonaparte than an independent sovereign. 

Pius VI. had protested against the spoliation of the Church, 
which the Constituent Assembly of France had committed, by 
the union of Avignon and the County of Venaissin to the Re- 
public, (Nov. 3, 1791 ;) and from that time he was treated as an 
enemy. The truce of Bologna, (June 23, 1796,) cost him twenty- 
one millions of francs, and many of the finest specimens of art. 
He consented that such statues and pictures as might be selected 
by commissioners appointed for that purpose, should be conveyed 
to the French capital. Finding it impossible to obtain an equi- 
table peace, he set on foot an army of 45,000 men, which he 
placed under the command of General Colli, a native of Austria ; 
but Bonaparte, notwithstanding, compelled his Holiness to con- 
clude a peace at Tolentino, (Feb. 19, 1797,) which cost him fif- 
teen millions more, and the three Legatines of Bologna, Fer- 
rara, and Romagna. He renounced at the same time Avignon 
and the County of Venaissin. In consequence of a tumult 
which took place at Rome, in which the French General Duphot 
was killed, a French army under General Berthier, entered that 
city (Feb. 11, 1793,) and proclaimed the Roman Republic; which, 
as we have noticed, enjoyed but an ephemeral existence. The 
government was vested in five consuls, thirty-two senators, and 
seventy-two tribunes, called the Representatives of the people. 
Pius Vl. was carried captive to France, and died at Valence 
(Aug. 29, 1799.) The Conclave assembled at Venice, and 
elected Cardinal Chiaramonte in his place, (March 13, 1800,) 
who assumed the title of Pius VII., and within a short time 
after made his public entry into Rome. Bonaparte, then elected 
First Consul, allowed him to enjoy the rest of his estates in 
peace. 

Towards the end of 1792, a French fleet, commanded by Ad- 
miral La Touche, appeared off the port of Naples, and obliged 
the King to acknowledge that first of all sovereigns, the French 
Republic. This did not prevent him from entering into the coa- 
lition, (July 12, 1793,) by a treaty of alliance with England, 
which was concluded at Naples. After the success of Bona- 




Bonaparte crossing the Alps. P. 452. 




Fall of Kosciuszko. P. 472. 



PERIOD IX. A. D. 17S9 — 1S15. 465 

parte in Lombardy, Ferdinand IV. averted the storm which 
threatened him, by signing first a suspension of arms at Brescia 
(June 5 1798,) and the peace of Paris a few months after, 
which he obtained on honourable conditions. We have already 
mentioned, that he was one of the first sovereigns who entered 
into the second coalition against France ; and that the precip- 
itancy with which he then commenced hostilities, proved pre- 
judicial to the success of the war, as well as disastrous to him- 
self. He did not regain possession of the kingdom of Naples 
till after the retreat of Macdonald in 1799 ; and he purchased 
peace (March 28, 1800) at the expense of receiving into his 
kingdom 16,000 French troops, who remained there until the 
conclusion of the treaty between Alexander and Bonaparte. 

The combined fleets of Turkey and Russia had subdued the 
islands that formerly belonged to the Venetians, viz. Corfu, 
Zante, Cephalonia, St. Maura, Ithaca, Paxo, and Cerigo. Ac- 
cording to a convention concluded at Constantinople between 
Russia and the Porte (March 21, 1800,) these islands were to 
form an independent State, although subject to the Ottoman Em- 
pire, under the name of the Republic of the Seven Islands 
This Republic, was acknowledged in subsequent treaties by 
France and Great Britain. 

By the peace of Basle, Germany had been divided into two 
parts ; the North, at the head of which was Prussia ; and the 
South, where Austria had the predominancy, in consequence ot 
her armies, and by the favour of the ecclesiastical Princes ; for 
the secular States abandoned her as often as they could do so with 
impunity. By a convention which Prussia concluded at Basle 
with France (May 17, 1795,) the neutrality of the North of 
Germany was recognised, on conditions which the Princes situ- 
ated beyond the line of demarcation were anxious to fulfil. 
Prussia afterwards concluded arrangements with these States 
for establishing an army of observation. This defection created 
no small animosity between the Courts of Berlin and Vienna, 
which the French dexterously turned to their own advantage ; 
especially during the sitting of the Congress at Rastadt. In 
vain did the Emperor Paul, who had determined to make war 
against the Republic, attempt to restore harmony between these 
two leading States. He was equally unsuccessful in his pro- 
ject of drawing Prussia into the coalition. Although Frederic 
n. had been deceived by France, who, after having promised 
him, in a secret convention concluded at Berlin (August 5, 
1796,) a compensation proportioned to the loss which he had 
sustamed by ceding the left bank of the Rhine, entered into en- 
gagements directly opposite, by the secret articles in the treaty 

30 



466 CHAPTER X. 

of Campo Formio. Nevertheless Frederic William III., who 
succeeded his father (Nov. 16, 1797,) remained faithful to a 
neutrality which the state of the Prussian finances appeared to 
render necessary. 

The revolutionary doctrines which were transplanted into 
Germany by the French emissaries, had fallen on a soil well 
prepared, and in Avhich they speedily struck root. By the peace 
of Luneville, all the provinces situated on the left bank of the 
Rhine, were incorporated with France ; and the moment was 
approaching which was to witness the downfall of the German 
Empire. While the French nation, seized with a strange ma- 
nia, were overturning law and order from their very founda- 
tions, and abandoning themselves to excesses which appear 
almost incredible in a civilized country, in the North another 
nation, sunk into anarchy and oppressed by their neighbours, 
were making a noble effort to restore the authority of the laws, 
and to extricate themselves from the bondage of a foreign yoke. 

The Poles had flattered themselves, that while the forces of 
Russia were occupied against the Swedes and the Turks, as we 
have already mentioned, they would be left at liberty to alter 
their constitution, and give a new vigour to the government of 
their Republic. An extraordinary Diet was assembled at War- 
saw (178S,) which formed itself into a Confederation, in order 
to avoid the inconveniences of the Liberurn Veto, and of the 
unanimity required in ordinary diets. The Empress of Russia 
having made some attempts at that Diet to engage the Poles to 
enter into an alliance against the Porte, she was thwarted in her 
intentions by the King of Prussia, who, in consequence of his 
engagements with England, used every effort to instigate the 
Poles against Russia. He encouraged them, by offering them 
his alliance, to attempt a reform in their government, which 
Russia had recently guaranteed. A Committee of Legisla- 
tion, appointed by the Diet was commissioned to draw up the 
plan of a constitution, which would give new energy to the Re- 
public. 

This resolution of the Diet could not but displease the Em- 
press of Russia, who remonstrated against it as a direct infrac- 
tion of the articles agreed between her and the Republic in 
1775. The Poles, who thus foresaw that the changes which 
they had in view would embroil them with that princess, ought 
to have considered, in the first place, how to put themselves into 
a good state of defence. But instead of providing for the melio- 
ration of their finances, and putting the army of the Republic on 
a respectable footing, the Diet spent a considerable time in dis- 
cussing the new plan of the constitution which had been submit- 



PERIOD jx. A. D. 1789—1815. 467 

ted to them. The assurance of protection from Prussia, which 
had been officially ratified to them, rendered the Poles too con- 
fident ; and the treaty of alliance which the King of Prussia had 
in effect concluded with the Republic (March 29, 1790,) began 
to lull them into a profound security. Stanislaus Augustus, 
after having long hesitated as to the party he ought to espouse, 
at length voluntarily joined that party in the Diet who wished 
to extricate Poland from that state of degradation into which she 
had fallen. The new constitution was accordingly decreed by 
acclamation (May 3, 1791.) 

However imperfect that constitution might appear, it was in 
unison with the state of civilization to which Poland had arriv 
ed. It corrected several of the errors and defects of former laws ; 
and though truly republican, it was free from those extravagant 
notions which the French Revolution had brought into fashion. 
The throne was rendered hereditary in favour of the Electoral 
House of Saxony ; they abolished the law of unanimity, and the 
absurdity of the Liberum Veto ; the Diet was declared perma- 
nent, and the Legislative body divided into two Chambers. One 
of these Chambers, composed of Deputies whose functions were 
to continue for two years, was charged with discussing and 
framing the laws ; and the other, consisting of a Senate in which 
the King presided, were to sanction them, and to exercise the 
Veto ; the executive power was intrusted to the King, and a 
Council of Superintendence consisting of seven members or re- 
sponsible ministers. The inhabitants of the towns were allow- 
ed the privilege of electing their own Deputies and Judges, and 
the burgesses had the way laid open to them for attaining the 
honours of nobility. The latter were maintained in all the 
plenitude of their rights and prerogatives ; the peasantry, who 
had been in a state of servitude, were placed under the imme- 
diate protection of the laws and the government ; the constitu- 
tion sanctioned before-hand the compacts which the landed pro- 
prietors might enter into with their tenantry for meliorating 
iheir condition. 

The efforts which the Poles had made to secure their inde 
pendence, excited the resentment of Russia. The Empress had 
no sooner made peace with the Porte, than she engaged her par- 
tisans in Poland to form a confederacy for the purpose of over- 
turning the innovations of the Diet at Warsaw, and restoring 
the ancient constitution of the Republic. This confederation, 
which was signed at Targowica (May 14, I792,)was headed by 
the Counts Felix Potochi, Rzewuski, and Branicki. In support 
of this confederacy, the Empress sent an army into Poland, to 
wage war against the partisans of the new order of things. The 



468 CHAPTER X. 

Poles had never till then thought seriously of adopting vigorous 
measures. The Diet decreed, that an army of the line should 
immediately take the field ; and that a levy should be made of 
several corps of light troops. A loan of thirty-three millions of 
florins passed without the least opposition ; but the Prussian 
minister having been called upon to give some explanation as to 
the subsidies which the King his master had promised to the 
Republic by the treaty of alliance of 1790, he made an evasive 
answer, which discouraged the whole patriotic party. 

The refusal of the Polish Diet to accede to a mercantile 
scheme, by which Dantzic and Thorn were to be abandoned to 
the King of Prussia, had disaffected that monarch towards Po- 
land. It was not difficult, therefore, for the Empress of Russia 
to obtain his consent to a dismemberment of that kingdom. 
The aversion which the sovereigns of Europe entertained for 
every thing that resembled the French Revolution, with which, 
however, the events of Poland where the King and the nation 
were acting in concert had nothing in common except appear- 
ances, had a powerful effect upon the Court of Berlin; and 
proved the cause of their breaking those engagements which 
they had contracted with that Republic. It was then that the 
Poles fully comprehended the danger of their situation. Their 
first ardour cooled, and the whole Diet were thrown into a state 
of the utmost consternation. 

Abandoned to her own resources, and convulsed by intestine 
divisions, Poland then saw her utter inability to oppose an ene- 
my so powerful as the Russians. The campaign of 1792 turned 
out entirely to the disadvantage of the Patriotic party. After 
a successful career, the Russians advanced on Warsaw ; when 
Stanislaus, who was easily intimidated, acceded to the confede- 
racy of Targowica, by renouncing the constitution of the 3d May, 
and the acts of the revolutionary Diet of Warsaw. That prince 
even subscribed (Aug. 25, 1792) to all the conditions which the 
Empress thought proper to dictate to him. A suspension of 
arms was agreed to, which stipulated for the reduction of the 
Polish army. In consequence of the arrangements entered into 
oetween Russia and Prussia, by the convention of St. Peters- 
burg (Jan. 23, 1793,) the Prussian troops entered Poland, and 
spread over the country after the example of the Russians. 
Proclamations were issued by the Courts of Berlin and St. Pe- 
tersburg, by which they declared the districts of Poland which 
their troops had occupied, incorporated with their own domin- 
ions. The adoption of the constitution of 1791, and the propa- 
gation of the democratic principles of the French, were the 
causes ol tms new dismemberment of Poland. 



PERIOD IX. A. D. 1789—1815. 469 

Prussia took possession of the larger part of Great Poland, in- 
cluding' the cities of Dantzic and Thorn ; the town of Czensto- 
chowa in Little Poland was also adjudged to her, with its fron- 
tier extending to the rivers Pilica, Sterniewka, Jezowka, and 
Bzura. The left bank of these rivers was assigned to Prussia, 
and the right reserved to Poland. The portion awarded to the 
former, contained one thousand and sixty-one German square 
miles, and one million two hundred thousand inhabitants. Rus- 
sia got nearly the half of Lithuania, including the Palatinates of 
Podolia, Polotsk and Minsk, a part of the Palatinate of Wilna, 
with the half of Novogrodek, Brzesc, and Volhynia ; in all, four 
thousand five hundred and fifty-three German square mile? and 
containing three millions of inhabitants. 

The Poles were obliged to yield up, by treaties, those pro- 
vinces which the two powers had seized. The treaty between 
Poland and Russia was signed at the Diet of Grodno (July 13, 
1793.) But that with the King of Prussia met with the most 
decided opposition ; and it was necessary to use threats of com- 
pulsion before it was consummated. On this occasion, these 
tv/o powers renounced anew the rights and pretensions which 
they might still have against the Republic under any denomina- 
tion whatsoever. They agreed to acknowledge, and if it should 
be required, also to guarantee the constitution which should be 
established by the Diet with the free consent of the Polish nation. 

After these treaties, came a treaty of alliance and union be- 
tween Russia and Poland (October 16, 1793,) the third article 
of which guaranteed their mutual assistance in case of attack ; 
the direction of the war was reserved to Russia, as well as the 
privilege of sending her troops into Poland, and forming maga- 
zines there, when she might judge it necessary ; while Poland 
agreed to enter into no connexion with foreign powers, and to 
make no change in her constitution, except with the approbation 
of Russia The portion that was left to the Republic, either 
m Poland or Lithuania, contained three thousand eight hundred 
and three square miles, with somewhat more than three mil- 
lions cf inhabitants. This State was divided into eighteen 
palatinates, ten of which were in Poland, and eight in Lithua- 
nia. To each of these palatinates were assigned two senators, 
a palatine, a castellain, and six deputies to sit in the Diet. 

These different treaties, and the grievances of which the 
Poles had just cause to complain, threw the public mind into a 
state of agitation, which in the following year broke out into a 
general insurrection. A secret association was formed at War- 
saw ; it found numerous partisans in the army, which was to 
have been disbanded according to the arrangements with Rus- 



470 CHAPTER X 

sia The conspirators chose Thaddeus Kosciuszko for theii 
chief, in this projected insurrection against Russia. That gen- 
eral had distinguished himself in the American war under 
Washington ; he had very recently signalized his bravery in the 
campaign of 1792 ; and after the unfortunate issue of that war, 
he had retired into Saxony with a few other patriots, who were 
ready to exert their energy in the cause of freedom. The in- 
surgents reckoned with confidence on the assistance of Austria, 
who had taken no part in the last dismemberment of Poland , 
they flattered themselves that Turkey and Sweden would not 
remain mere spectators of the efforts which they were making 
to regain their liberty and their independence. 

Kosciuszko had wished that they should postpone the execu- 
tion of their plan, in order to gain more time for preparation ; 
especially as a suspicion was excited among the Russians. He 
even retired into Italy, where he remained until one of his ac- 
complices, who had been ordered, as a propagator of sedition, to 
banish himself from the Polish territories, informed him that 
his countrymen wished him to appear among them without de- 
lay, as a better opportunity might not soon arise. Madalinski, 
who commanded a brigade of cavalry under the new govern- 
ment, when summoned to disband them, refused ; and throwing 
oflf the mask, gave the signal for insurrection. He suddenly 
quitted his station, crossed the Vistula, and after having dis- 
persed some detachments of Prussians, whom he encountered 
in his route, he marched directly to Cracow, where he erected 
the standard of revolt. The inhabitants took arms, expelled 
the Russian troops who were quartered in that city, and pro- 
claimed Kosciuszko their General. A sort of dictatorship was 
conferred upon him (March 24, 1794,) which was to continue so 
long as their country was in danger. He took an oath of fidel- 
ity to the nation, and of adherence to the principles stated in 
the act of insurrection, by which war was declared against the 
invaders of their rights and liberties. 

The Russians and Prussians immediately despatched their 
troops to arrest the progress of the insurrection. The defeat oi 
a body of Russians near Raslavice, by Kosciuszko, inspired the 
insurgents with new courage. The inhabitants of Warsaw 
rose in like manner against the Russians, who had a garrison 
there of 10,000 men, under the command of General Igelstrom. 
It was on the night of the 17th April that the tocsin of revolt 
was sounded in the capital ; the insurgents seized the arsenal, 
and distributed arms and ammunition among the people. A 
brisk cannonade took place between the Russians and the Poles. 
The combat continued for two successive days, in which several 



PERIOD IX. A. U. 1789 1816. 



471 



thousands of the Russians perished, while 4500 were made pri- 
soners-. Igelsirom escaped from the city with about 3000 men. 
The same insurrection broke out at Wilna, from Avhence it ex- 
tended over all Lithuania. Several Polish regiments who had 
entered into the service of Russia, changed sides, and enlisted 
under the banners of the insurgents. 

In spite of their first success, it was soon perceived that 
Poland was deficient in the necessary resources for an enter- 
prise of such a nature as that in which they were engaged. 
The great body of the citizens were neither sufficiently numer- 
ous nor sufficiently wealthy, to serve as a centre for the revolu- 
tion which they had undertaken ; and the servitude in which 
the peasantry were kept, was but ill calculated to inspire them 
with enthusiasm for a cause in which their masters only were 
to be the gainers. Besides, the patriots were divided in opin- 
ion ; and the King, although he appeared to approve their ef 
forts, inspired so much mistrust by his weakness and timidity, 
that he was even accused of secretly abetting the interests of 
Russia. Lastly, the nobles who alone ought to have shown 
courage and energy, were found but little disposed to give any 
effectual support to the cause of liberty. Every contribution 
appeared to them an encroachment on their prerogatives ; and 
they were as much averse to a levy en masse as to the raising 
of recruits, which deprived them of their tenantry. They were, 
moreover, afraid of losing those rights and privileges which they 
exclusively enjoyed. 

Under these considerations, Kosciuszko was convincpd that it 
was impossible for him to organize an armed force equal to that 
of the Russians and the Prussians, who were acting in concert 
to defeat the measures of the insurgents. After some inferior 
operations, an important engagement took place on the confines 
of the Palatinates of Siradia and Cujavia (June 8, 1794,) where 
he sustained a defeat ; in consequence of which the King of 
Prussia made himself master of Cracow. That prince, supported 
by a body of Russian troops, undertook, in person, the siege of 
Warsaw. The main forces of the insurgents were assembled 
under the walls of that city. They amounted to about 22,000 
combatants, while the enemy had more than 50,000. The siege 
of Warsaw continued nearly two months, when a general msur 
rection, which had spread from Great Poland into Western Prus 
sia, obliged the King to retire, that he might arrest the progress 
of the insurrection in his own dominions. 

The joy of the insurgents, on account of this incident, was 
but of short duration. The Court of Vienna, which till then 
had maintained a strict neutrality, resolved also to despatch an 



472 CHAPTER X. 

army into Poland. This army was divided into two columns, 
one of which marched on Brzesci, and the other on Dowbno. 
On the other hand, the Russians under the command of Suwa- 
row, advanced into Lithuania, and pursued a body of the msur- 
gents, who were commanded by Sirakowski. Kosciuszko. who 
now saw the great superiority of the enemy, made a last effort 
to prevent the junction of the army of Suwarow with that of 
Baron de Fersen, the Russian General. Directing his march 
towards the latter, he fought a bloody battle with him near 
Matchevitz (Oct. 10, 1794.) The action continued from sunrise 
till beyond mid-day. Six thousand of the Polish army perished 
on the field, and the lest were made prisoners. Kosciuszko was 
himself dangerously wounded, and fell into the hands of the 
conqueror. He had endeavoured to escape by the swiftness of 
his horse, but was overtaken by some of the Cossacs; one of 
whom, without knowing him, run him through the back with 
his lance. Falling senseless from his horse, he was carried to 
a monastery ; when it was intimated, by one of his officers, that 
he was the Commander-in-chief. Surgical aid was immediately 
administered to him, and he was soon after conveyed to St. 
Petersburg. 

This disaster quite dejected the courage of the Poles. Their 
Generals, Dombrowski and Madalinski, who were carrying on 
the war in Prussia and Great Poland, abandoned these provinces, 
and marched with their troops to the relief of Warsaw. Suwa 
row likewise directed his march towards that capital, and was 
there joined by a considerable body of Prussians, under Dorfel- 
den and Fersen, in conjunction with whom he commenced the 
blockade of that city (Nov. 4.) The Russians, who amounted 
to 22,000 men, prepared for an attack of the entrenchments of 
Praga, one of the suburbs of Warsaw. The Poles, who had a 
body of between eight and ten thousand men, made a courage- 
ous defence ; but nothing could withstand the ardour and im- 
petuosity of the Russians, who were burning with rage to avenge 
the blood of their countrymen who were massacred at Warsaw. 

Three batteries had been erected in the night ; and the two 
first divisions, though harassed by a vigorous fire in every direc- 
tion except the rear, bravely surmounted every obstacle. In the 
space of four hours, they carried the triple entrenchment of Pra- 
ga by main force. Rushing into the place, they pursued their 
adversaries through the streets, put the greater part of them to 
the sword, and drove one thousand into the Vistula. In this 
scene of action, a regiment of Jews made an obstinate defence, 
and at length were totally extirpated. Thirteen thousand of the 
Poles, it is said, were left dead on the spot ; two thousand were 



PERIOD IX. A. D. 1789—1816. 473 

drowned in the Vistula, and between fourteen and lifteen thou- 
sand were made prisoners. The suburb of Praga was pillaged, 
and razed to the foundation. Terror seized the inhabitants of 
Warsaw, and they determined to capitulate. Suwarow made 
his triumphant entry into that capital, and was presented with 
the keys of the city (Nov. 9.) The Polish troops laid dofv^i 
their arms ; the insurrection was quelled; and the greater pan 
of those who had distinguished themselves in it, were arrested 
by the Russians. The King of Poland retired to Grodno ; and 
the final dismemberment of that country was agreed upon by the 
three allied powers. 

The Court of Berlin having signified their intention of retain- 
ing Cracow and the neighbouring country, of which their troops 
had just taken possession, Austria, who was also desirous of pro- 
curing that part of Poland, took advantage of the discontent 
which the conduct of Prussia during the campaign of 1794, and 
her retreat from the ensuing coalition, had excited in the Em 
press of Russia, and entered into a separate negotiation with the 
Court of St. Petersburg. They arranged privately between 
themselves, as to the shares which were to fall to each. An act, 
in form of a declaration, was signed at St. Petersburg, between 
these two courts (Jan. 3, 1795,) purporting, that the Cabinet of 
Berlin should be invited to accede to the stipulations therein 
contained; in consideration of the offer which the two courts 
made to acquiesce in the reunion of the remainder of Poland 
with the Prussian monarchy, and the engagement which they 
entered into to guarantee that acquisition. 

A negotiation was afterwards set on foot with the Court of 
Berlin, which was protracted to a great length ; as that Court, 
who were ignorant of the engagement which Catherine had come 
under to secure Cracow to Austria, had always entertained the 
hope of being able to retain it themselves. It was only when 
the act of the 3d January was communicated to them, that they 
agreed to a- special convention with the Court of Vienna, which 
was signed at St. Petersburg (Oct. 24, 1795.) The city of Cra 
cow was abandoned to Austria, who, on her side, resigned in 
favour of the King of Prussia a portion of the territory which the 
declaration of the 3d January preceding had secured to her. It 
was settled, that the limits of the Palatinate of Cracow should 
be regulated between these two powers, under ihe mediation of 
the Court of St. Petersburg. Stanislaus had then no other al- 
ternative left, than to resign his crown into the hands of the Em- 
press of Russia. The act of his abdication was dated at Grodno 
(Nov. 25, 1795.) 

Tt was bv these diffcient conventions, that Russia obtained all 



474 CHAPTER X. 

that remained of Poland and Lithuania, as far as the Niemen 
and the confines of Brzesci and Novogrodek. She likewise 
obtained the greater part of Samogilia, with the whole of Cour- 
land and Semigallia. She had besides, in Little Poland, that 
part of the territory of Chelm situated on the right bank of the 
Bug, and the remainder of Volhynia ; in all, containing aboui 
two thousand square miles, with one million two hundred 
thousand inhabitants. 

To Austria were assigned, in addition to the principal part of 
Cracow, the whole Palatinates of Sendomir and Lublin, with 
part of the district of Chelm, and the Palatinates of Brzesci, 
Podolachia, and Masovia, which lay on the left bank of the Bug ; 
comprising m all, about eight hundred and thirty-four thousand 
German square miles, with about one million of inhabitants. 

To Prussia, was assigned part of the Palatinates of Masovia 
and Podolachia, lying on the right bank of the Bug ; in Lithu- 
ania, she had part of the Palatinate of Troki and of Samogitia 
which lies on this side of the Niemen, as well as the small dis- 
trict in Little Poland, making part of the Palatinate of Cracow ; 
the whole consisting of about one thousand German square 
miles, with a population of one million. Finally, by a subse- 
quent convention which was concluded at St. Petersburg (Jan. 
26, 1797,) the three co-participant Courts arranged among them- 
selves as to the manner of discharging the debts of the Ki«g 
and the Republic of Poland. They agreed by this same con- 
vention to allow the dethroned monarch an annuity of 200,000 
ducats. 

At the commencement of this period, it was not yet perceived 
of what importance it was for Russia to get possession of the 
Crimea ; and it was not until the agriculture and industry of 
that country had begun to prosper under a wise administration, 
that they began to apprehend it might one day have a powerful 
influence on the balance of trade. The Empress Catherine, 
who had been flattered in her youth by the eulogies of the phi- 
losophers, so as to become a disciple of their new doctrines, 
was the first to perceive this danger. She then declared her- 
self a most implacable enemy to the French Revolution, and 
would gladly have armed all Europe to exterminate the Repub- 
lic. Nevertheless, she did not take up arms herself, and only 
joined the first coalition in an indirect manner, and by conclud- 
ing treaties purely defensive, such as that of Drontningholm 
with Sweden (Oct. 19, 1791,) and that of St. Petersburg with 
the King of Hungary and Bohemia (July 12, 1782,) and that 
which was concluded (Aug. 7,) in the same city with Prussia. 
Nevertheless, when Frederic had retired from the list, she re- 



PERIOD IX. A. 1). ITby — 1815. 475 

solved 10 send into the field the sixty thousand men vvhich Eng- 
land was to take into pay. The treaty was on the eve of being 
•<igned, when the Empress was suddenly cut off by death 
(Nov. 17, 1796.) 

Paul, her successor, refused to sanction that treaty. We have 
already noticed the active hand which that monarch took in the 
war of 1799 against France ; and we have already mentioned 
the unsuccessful attempt which he made to revive the principles 
of the armed neutrality. This Emperor, who wanted stead- 
iness and consistency, published at his coronation (April 5, 1797,) 
a fundamental law regarding ihe order of succession to the 
throne. This law, intended to prevent those revolutions which 
the unsettled state of the throne had produced in Russia, es- 
tablished a mixed lineal succession, agreeably to the order of 
primogeniture ; admitting females only in case of the total 
extinction of the male descendants oi' the male line of Paul ; 
and defining Avith the most scrupulous exactness, the order in 
which females and their descendants should succeed to the 
throne. But being Aveak and narrow-minded, and incapable of 
discharging his imperial functions, he entailed upon himself the 
Hatred of both the nobility and the people. He met with a 
violent death, having been murdered by a party of daring con- 
spirators (March 24, 1801.) 

Alexander, who succeeded his unfortunate father, lost no time 
in restoring peace to his dominions, by entering into an arrange- 
ment with Great Britain (June 17,) by which he abandoned the 
principles of free trade for neutral vessels ; admitting that even 
a convoy should not protect these from being subjected to a 
search or visitation, when ordered by the Captain of a vessel 
belonging to the public navy of a belligerent state. He like- 
wise concluded peace with France and Spain (Oct. 4, 8.) 

Sweden had extricated herself without loss from the war 
which Gustavus III. had imprudently commenced. That 
Prince had succeeded in extending the royal prerogative, and 
making the Diet adopt the fundamental act of union and secu- 
rity (March 29, 1792,) vesting in himself the right of making 
war and peace, which according lo the former order of things, 
he could only exercise with the concurrence of the States. Be- 
ing endowed with an ardent and heroic character, he had pro- 
posed to march at the head of the armies which Louis XVI. 
had set on foot ; but he fell the victim of a conspiracy formed 
by the discontented nobles, leaving his son a minor. 

The Regency of the Duke of Sudermania, during the minor- 
ity of Gustavus IV., was infested by jealousies and intrigues ; 
while the finances, which were under bad management, fell 



476 CHAPTER XI. 

graduail}^ into i state of disorder. The policy of the Regent 
was decidedly for the maintenance of peace. The yoiirg King 
himself assumed the reins of government (November 1, 1796.) 
Although he had e itered into the league of the North, formed 
by Paul I., for the maintenance of the maritime rights of neu- 
tral States, he acceded shortly after to the opposite system, to 
which Alexander I. had declared himself favourable. 

Christian VII. had reigned in Denmark since 1766 ; but for 
the last twenty years, the Prince Royal and Count Bernstorff" 
bad been at the head of his councils. Under their administra- 
tion, the kingdom nourished in profound peace which had not 
for an instant been interrupted, except in 1800, by the vexatious 
treatment which the Danish ships had met with on the part of 
England. Denmark was the first of the European powers tlial 
abolished the African slave trade (May 16, 1796.) 



CHAPTER XI. 

PERIOD IX. 



The Military Preponderance of France under the sway of Na 
poleon Bonaparte, a. d. 1802 — 1810. 

In the period on which we are now entering, and which com- 
prehends eight years, we shall find Napoleon Bonaparte devot- 
ing his unremitting efforts to a threefold project, the object of 
which was to secure for himself the empire of the world. The 
first of these was to render the monarchical government heredi- 
tary in his family, preparatory to the introduction of a universal 
dominion ; the next was to extend the boundaries of France ; 
and the last to surround that country, not with a multitude of 
Republics as the Directory had done, but with a number of 
petty monarchies, the existence of which should be so amalga- 
mated with his own dynasty, that they must stand or fall with 
it. We shall find him keeping these projects incessantly in 
view, so that every step which he took towards the accomplish- 
ment of the one, was calculated at the same time to advance the 
other two. 

Bcfoi'e the end of the year 1801, a council, composed of 450 
deputies of the Cisalpine Republic, was assembled at Lyons, in 
order to deliberate as to the changes to be made in the constitu- 
tion, which was assimilated more and more to the monarchical 
form. In the mean time, the Presidency of the Republic was 



PERIOD IX. A. D. 1802—1810. 477 

conferred on Bonaparte (January 26, 1802,) under the title ni 
the Italian Republic. 

"Notwithstanding the easy triumph which the constitution oi 
the 3'^ear Eight had gained, by dissolving the Legislative Bociy 
of France, dissension was not long in breaking out among its 
member? ; and an opposition was formed which, condemned n, 
silence, had no other means of manifesting itself, than by secret- 
ly thwarting the views of the government. There was, hoAvever, 
another opposition which appeared among the members of the 
tribunate, and which greatly irritated Bonaparte, by openly at- 
tacking his projects of legislation. The period had now arrived, 
wnen one-fifth part of the members of these two bodies were to 
retire. But the new convention, in settling this partial altera- 
tion, were divided as to the mode of proceeding; or rather it 
was the general opinion, that the ex-members should be deter- 
mined by lot. This temporary vacancy furnished Bonaparte 
v/ith a pretext for getting rid of all those whose presence had 
laid him under any sort of restraint. A decree of the Conser- 
vative Senate, of the 22d Ventose, in the year Ten (March 13; 
1802,) turned out twenty of the tribunes, and sixty of the le- 
gislators ; and supplied their places wit.h members taken from 
the lists formed by the Electoral Colleges of the Departments. 
Having thus discovered what advantages might accrue to him 
from an institution which Sieycs had contrived for balancing 
the authority of the government, from that moment he convert- 
ed the Senate into an instrument for sanctioning his own mea- 
sures. 

A notification from the French ambassador in Switzerland 
announced that the Valais ? hould henceforth form an Independ- 
ent Republic (April 3.) The inhabitants had not requested this 
favour; it was granted to them because Bonaparte wished to 
get possession of the Simplon, preparatory to the union of that 
country with France. The second decree of the New Consti- 
tution of the 6th Floreal (April 26,) granted a general amnesty 
to all emigrants who should return within the space of three 
months, and take the oath of allegiance. All their property that 
remained unsold was restored to them, except the forests. About 
a thousand individuals were excepted from this act of justice, 
which strengthened the authority of Bonaparte by conciliating 
the public opinion in his favour. 

Immediatel}'- after this, Bonaparte submitted to the Tribunate 
and the Legislative Body a plan for the institution of a Legion 
of Honour (May 10.) This Legion was to be composed of fif- 
teen cohorts of Dignitaries for life. The First Consul was the 
Chief of the Legion ; each cohort was to be composed of seven 



478 CHAPTER XI. 

Grand Officers, twenty Commandants, thirty Officers, and three 
hundred Legionaries. The object of Bonaparte evidently was 
to establish a new aristocracy. But the minds of the Council 
were so little prepared for this proposition, and so contrary was 
it 10 the republican ideas with which they were still imbued, thai 
it passed but by a very small majority, and the First Consul 
thought proper to delay carrying it into execution. 

For some time the First Consul had been in negotiation with 
Pope Pius VII. on the affairs of religion. He had adjusted a 
Concordat with his Holiness, subjecting public worship to the 
superintendence of ten prelates of the highest rank, and fifty 
bishops. This famous Concordat was signed at Paris (July 15,^. 
and ratified at Ronie (Aug. 15,) 1801. It was afterwards sub- 
mitted for the acceptance of the French nation, and adopted by 
a very great majority. The Sabbath and the four grand festi- 
vals were restored ; and from this date the government ceased 
to follow the decennary system. This was the first abandon- 
ment of the Republican calendar. Bonaparte hoped to attach 
to himself the sacerdotal party, the order most disposed for pas- 
sive obedience ; and in this manner to balance the clergy against 
the Royalists, and the Pope against the interests of the Coali- 
tion. The Concordat v.'as ratified with great pomp in the church 
of Notre Dams by the Senate, the Legislative Body, the Tri- 
bune, and the public functionaries. The First Consul appeared 
in the ancient court carriage, with all the circumstances and eti- 
quette of royalty. 

Another law of the Constitution of the 30th of Floreal (May 
20,) sanctioned the Slave Trade in the colonies restored to 
France by the treaty of Amiens, and in the French colonies sit- 
uated beyond the Cape of Good Hope. By this law, however, 
slavery was not restored in St. Domingo. That colony was un- 
der the dominion of the Negroes, who, after having massacred 
the Whites, and committed barbarities which surpass even those 
of the French Revolution, had succeeded in establishing their 
independence. After the preliminaries signed at London, Bo- 
naparte had sent an expedition to that Island, having on board 
40,000 men, commanded by his brother-in-law General Le Clerc. 
On their arrival at St. Domingo, the French took possession of 
the town of Cape Francois, which was the seat of government, 
as well as of several other places. Toussaint L'Ouverture, ori- 
ginally a slave, and raised to be the Chief of the Blacks, sub- 
mitted to the French : but General Le Clerc, having afterwards 
arrested him, had him conveyed to France where he died. This 
circumstance excited the Blacks to a new revolt under the com- 
mand of Christophe, the relative and friend of Toussaint ; and 



"ERioD IX. A. D. 1802—1810. 479 

after a bloody war, France lost this valuable colony, togethei 
with a numerous army and many commercial advantages. 

After the conclusion of the peace of Amiens, the Tribunate, 
purged of its Republican members, signified a wish that some 
pledge of national gratitude should be offered to General Bona- 
parte. The Conservative Senate then nominated him First 
Consul for ten years. When this decree of the Senate was an- 
nounced to him, he could not conceal his chagrin ; and that he 
might not be compelled to accept a favour which he disdained, 
he demanded that the decision of the Senate should be submitted 
for the sanction of the people. The two other Consuls were re- 
solved to consult the nation (and this was the only occasion in 
which they ever acted on their own authority,) not as to the de- 
cree of the Senate, but on the question whether Bonaparte 
should be elected Consul for life. Out of 3,577,379, of which 
the primary Assembly was composed, 3,568,885 voted in the 
affirmative, and only 8,494 in the negative. Agreeable to this 
expression of the public voice, the Senate proclaimed Bonaparte 
First Consul for life (August 2, 1802.) 

Two days after, the third decree of the Senate of the 16th 
Thermidor, brought the government still nearer the monarchical 
form, by granting to the First Consul great influence over the 
Electoral Assemblies, with the power of ratifying treaties, grant- 
ing pardons, nominating senators without presentation, appoint- 
ing the Presidents of the Electoral Assemblies, adding to the 
number of their members, and even proclaiming his own suc- 
cessor. The Tribunate, which still appeared somewhat formi- 
dable, was reduced to fifty members. 

Such, in the space of two years, was the progress of arbitrary 
power. In the course of 1802, the union of three different 
countries to France was either accomplished, or in a state of 
preparation. The first was that of the Island of Elba, of which 
the Kings of Naples and Sardinia had'resigned their rights : 
the second was that of Piedmont, which France had occupied 
since 9th December 1798 ; and lastly, on the death of Ferdinand, 
Duke of Parma, his estates were taken possession of by France, 
as having devolved to her in virtue of the treaty of Madrid (Mar. 
21, 1801,) although they were not annexed to that country till 
1808. These acquisitions were made, on the political principle 
avowed by Bonaparte, which allowed every thing lo be done 
that treaties did not expressly forbid. 

The Peace of Campo Formio and Luneville had recognised the 
right of Switzerland to form a constitution for herself; and Aloys 
Reding happening to be in Paris about the end of 1801, had ob- 
tained the consent of the First Consul for the re-establishment 



480 CHAPTER XI. 

of democracy in the petty cantons. From that time two parties 
rose who had long been kept down by force ; and Switzerland 
experienced a series of revolutions, in which the Unionists or 
aristocratic party, and the Federalists or democratic, alternatel} 
had the ascendancy. At length a new Constitution, more aris- 
tocratic in its principles, was submitted for the approbation of the 
people. It was accepted by 72,453 citizens, and rejected by 
92,423; but as 167,172 individuals, who had a right to vote, 
had disdained to exercise that privilege, the Helvetic Senate 
thought proper to reckon all the absentees among the acceptors ; 
and the new constitution was introduced (July 3,) as having 
been sanctioned by a majority of the people. Bonaparte had 
given the Swiss to understand, that he relied on their willing- 
ness to be united to France ; but, as the Helvetic government 
made a pretence of not comprehending that invitation, he with- 
drew his troops from Switzerland (Jiily 20.) This was the sig- 
nal for a civil war. The democratic cantons, who were assem- 
bled at Schweitz, restored the ancient confederation, to which 
most of the old cantons acceded. The central government, 
having no other support than the new cantons, and seeing them- 
selves attacked even in their own territories, importuned the 
assistance of the First Consul. A French army, under the com- 
mand of Ney, entered Switzerland, and re-established the gov- 
ernment which was recommended by the First Consul. Bona- 
parte constituted himself an arbiter between the two parties, and 
summoned a Helvetic Council at Paris (Feb. 19, 1803,) and 
proclaimed the constitution of Switzerland, known by the name 
of the Act of Mediation. Switzerland thus became a federative 
Republic, composed of nineteen sovereign cantons. The con- 
stitution of each was more or less democratic ; but the equality 
of the citizens formed the basis of them all. Once a year, a 
Diet was to assemble in one of the six principal cities in Swit- 
zerland in rotation. In these the Landammaji, or chief magis- 
trate of the district, was to preside, The first Landamman, M. 
Louis d'Affry, was nominated by Bonaparte. 

Bonaparte played a conspicuous part in the negotiations for 
indemnifying those princes who had lost a part or the whole of 
their possessions, by the cession of the left bank of the Rhine. 
He, in concert with the Emperor Alexander, was the principal 
arbiter in this important affair. 

Without here entering into the details of these negotiations, 
we shall merely observe, that the main obstacle which had im- 
peded the negotiations of Ratisbon being removed by the treaties 
which France concluded on this occasion, the deputation came 
to a final conclusion, known by the name of the Recess (or Re- 




Death of Prince Poniatowski in passing the Elster. P. 551. 




Polytechnic Scholars joining the people. P. 602. 



PERIOD IX. A. D. 1802—1810. 



481 



solutions) of the Deputation (Feb. 25, 1803,) by which the ar- 
rangomerit regarding indemnities and territorial exchanges was 
brought to a determination. 

The war between France and Great Britain was renewed jn 
1S03 Public opinion in England had declared againsa the, 
peace of Amiens, which was by no means favourable to her. 
considering the sacrifices which she had made. The British 
mmistry repented having agreed to the surrender of Malta and 
the Cape of Good Hope. They delayed the restoration of Malta 
under pretext that the guarantees had not been granted without 
restriction. The arbitrary and violent acts which Bonaparte 
had committed since the peace ; and above all, the annexation 
ot Piedmont to France, furnished a second motive for not evacu- 
ating an island so important from its position. After a very 
spirited negotiation. Great Britain offered to restore Malta to 
its own inhabitants, and to acknowledge it as an independent 
State ; only for the term of ten years, however, and on conditions 
that the King of Naples would cede Lampedosa. The French 
troops were to evacuate the Batavian and Swiss Republics. On 
these terms England would recognise the Italian and Ligurian 
Republics, and the King of Etruria. His Majesty of Sardinia 
was to receive an adequate territorial provision in Italy. The 
first Consul having rejected this ultimatum, war was declared 
(May 18, 1803,) and all the English who were travelling or re- 
siding in France, arrested and detained as hostages. 

Charles IV. King of Spain, by the treaty of St. Ildefonso, had 
ceded Louisiana to France. When this news arrived in Amer- 
ica, it spread consternation in the Republic of the United States. 
President Jefferson felt great reluctance in consenting to oppose, 
by a military force, the entry of the French into a country which 
would give them the command of the Mississippi. To prevent 
this, and from other motives, he directed the American minister 
in Paris to enter into a negotiation with the French government 
for the purchase of Louisiana, which was effected at Paris (Sept. 
30, 1803.) 

A French army, which was assembled in the Batavian Re- 
public under the command of General Mortier, was despatched 
immediately after the declaration of war, to occupy the Electo- 
rate of Hanover, the patrimonial dominions of the King of Great 
Britain. The Government of that country concluded a capitu- 
lation at Suhlingen (June 3,) in virtue of which the native troops 
retired beyond the Elbe, while the French army were to occupry 
the country and its fortresses, and be maintained by the inhabi- 
tants. They likewise took possession of Cuxhaven and Retze- 
butel, belonging to the city of Hamburg. The German Empire 

31 



482 CHAPTER XI. 

which had the mortification of seeing its interests regulated by 
two foreign powers, did not even protest against this violation o( 
its leriirciy. Bonaparte, deceived in his expectation of rendering 
the Cahinet of London compliant, annulled the capitulation of 
Suhlingen, and ordered Mortier to attack Count VValmoden, who 
commanded the Hanoverian army. The latter, however, laid 
down their arms, in consequence of a convention which was 
signed at Artlenberg (July 5.) After these proceedings, the 
mouths of the Elbe and Weser were immediately blockaded by 
an English squadron, which prevented the invaders from bene- 
fiting by the navigation of those rivers. 

England had generously offered to acknow.edge the neutrality 
of Holland, provided she could get the French troops to evacu- 
ate her territory. This measure, however proved disastrous in 
its result for the Republic. Bonaparte laid them under obliga- 
tion to maintain a body of 34,000 men, both French and Bata- 
vians ; and to furnish five ships of war and five frigates, with a 
number of transports and sloops of war, for conveying to Eng- 
land 61,000 men and 4000 horses. After the conclusion of peace 
with the Emperor of Russia (Oct. 8, 1801,) Bonaparte had 
withdrawn his troops from the kingdom of Naples ; but, by a 
forced interpretation of the treaty of Florence, he pretended that 
he had a right to send them back whenever he should happen 
to be at war with England. Ferdinand IV. was obliged to suc- 
cumb ; and in consequence of an arrangement with General St. 
Cyr (June 25, 1803,) the French again took possession of 
Abruzzi. 

The loss of Trinidad, and the selling of Louisiana to the 
United States of America, had created no small coolness between 
the Court of Madrid and Bonaparte. Already had he brought 
an army near to Bayonne, which, under the command of Gen- 
eral Augereau, threatened Spain. She, however, succeeded in 
evading the storm. As it was of much importance for her to 
avoid war with England, and on the other hand, as Bonaparte 
had more need of money than of ships, especially considering 
the nature of the attack which he meditated upon England, it 
was agreed by a secret treaty signed at IMadrid (Oct. 30,) that 
Charles IV. should substitute money, instead of the succours 
which the nature of his former engagement bound him to fur- 
nish. The amount of this subsidy is not officially known. The 
hopes which this Monarch had entertained of escaping from the 
war were sadly disappointed. He was dragged into it towards 
the end of the following year. 

Portugal likewise purchased her neutrality, by a convention 
which was signed between General Lannes, Bonaparte's minis 



PERIOD IX. A. D. 1802 — 181 C. 483 

ter at Lisbon, and Don Manuel Pinto ; the contents of which 
are not known with certainty. 

From the breaking of the peace of Amiens to the second war 
with Austria, Bonaparte had employed himself about a project 
for effecting a landing in England, for which he had made im 
mense preparations. All the ship-carpenters throughout France 
.vere put in requisition for the equipment of a flotilla intended 
to convey the armies of the Republic to the English shores. A 
multitudinous army, called the Army of England, was assem- 
bled on the coasts, extensive camps were formed, and convoys 
prepared for protecting the transportation of these invaders. In 
England, under the ministry of Mr. Pitt, vigorous measures of 
defence were adopted, by setting on foot a regular army of 
180,000 men. The English Admirals frequently harassed the 
French shipping, and bombarded the towns situated upon the 
coasts. But from this there did not happen any result of im- 
portance. 

St. Lucia, St. Peter, Miquelon, and Tobago, as also the 
Dutch colonies of Demerara, Essequibo, and Berbice, fell into 
the hands of the English in the beginning of the year 1803. 
General Rochambeau, who had succeeded Le Clerc, concluded 
a capitulation at St. Domingo, with Dessalines the B^ack Chief, 
for the evacuation of Cape Frangois ; but as the English Ad- 
miral Duckworth blockaded it by sea, he was obliged to sur- 
render with his whole army, which was transported to Eng- 
land. Dessalines, thus relieved from the French, proclaimed 
the independence of St. Domingo, or the island of Hayti, of 
which he assumed the government, under the title of Governor- 
General, for life. 

Meantime, the plan of Bonaparte for disengaging himsel 
from those political restraints which fettered his ambition, was 
growing to maturity. Three parties divided France — the Roy- 
alists, the Systematic Republicans, and the Jacobins. Of the 
two first, the one had always entertained hopes that Bonaparte 
would recall the Bourbons ; and the other, that the moment was 
approaching when true liberty would take the place of despotism. 
General Moreau was regarded as the head of this party, if his 
character had at all made him a proper person to play an active 
game in public affairs. Bonaparte, w^ho desired neither King 
nor Republic, was convinced that he could only arrive at his pur- 
pose by attaching to himself the Jacobin party. In order to in- 
spire them with confidence, he felt that it was necessary to give 
them a pledge ; this was, to be continually at variance with the 
other two parties, which they equally detested. 

Bonaoarte resolved to ruin Moreau, whom he mistrusted 



484 CHAPTER XI. 

Pichegru, Georges, Cadoudal, and other Royalist Chiefs, se- 
cretly entered France, believing that the time was now come 
for re-establishing royalty, and that Moreau would place him- 
self at the head of thie enterprise. Pichegru twice saw his old 
friend Moreau, who refused to take any part in a plot against 
the Government ; but he was reluctant to betray this excellent 
man, whom Bonaparte hated, and who had been excepted by 
name from the general amnesty. His silence was sufficient to 
entangle him in a pretended conspiracy, with which the tribu- 
nals resounded. 

Pichegru kept himself secreted in Paris for some days, but 
through the treachery of a friend he was at length discovered 
arrested, and committed to prison, where he was found dead, on 
the morning of April 7th., a black handkerchief being twisted 
around his neck, and tightened by the twisting of a stick. No 
proof appeared against Moreau of taking any part in the con- 
spiracy ; but his own confession, that he had seen Pichegru 
twice, was deemed sufficient by his judges to justify his con- 
demnation, for a high, although not capital crime ; he was sen- 
tenced to two years imprisonment, which, by the intercession of 
his friends was commuted for the same period of exile. This 
distinguished General made choice of America, as his place of 
exile. 

At this time another occurrence took place, which must ever 
form the darkest chapter in the history of Bonaparte — the arrest, 
condemnation, and execution of the Duke d'Enghien. This 
prince was living in retirement in the castle of Ettenheim, in 
the Dutchy of Baden, a neutral territory. On the evening of 
the 14th of March, a troop of French soldiers passed the fron- 
tier, surrounded the castle, and seized the prince, and all his at- 
tendants. He was immediately conveyed to Strasburgh, and 
from thence after a confinement of three days to Paris, where he 
was kept for a few hours in the Temple, and then removed to 
the neighbouring castle of Vincennes. On the night of the 
20th he was charged by a military court, of which General Hul- 
lin was president, with having fought against France, being in 
the pay of England, plotting against the internal and external 
safety of the Republic, and haA'ing conspired against the life of 
the chief Consul. The court pronounced him guilty ; the de- 
cision was immediately despatched to Bonaparte, and the sen- 
*ence " condemned to derh," which was written on the back of 
it. carried into execution .it six o'clock the following morning. 
The charges alleged against him were unsupported by any 
evidence ; but he persevered in declaring, that he would ever 
sustam the rights of his family, and that as a Conde, he could 
n^ver enter France, but with arm.> in his hand. 



I'ERIOD IX. A. D. 1802—1810. 



485 



This last act paved the way for Bonaparte to ascend the 
throne. France had scarcely recovered from the stupor in which 
elie had been plunged by the judicial murder of a Bourbon, 
when the Conservative Senate, who had perceived that the best 
way to please Bonaparte was not to wait till he should make his 
wishes known to them, presented an address, inviting him to 
complete the institutions necessary for tranquillizing the State 
(March 27.) At this signal of flattery, many of the Orders of 
the State were eager to express their desire that the power 
which was vested in Bonaparte, should be conferred on him by 
a hereditary title. One month was allowed to elapse, for pre- 
paring the public mind for the result. It was then that the First 
Consul, in replying to the address of the Senate, desired these 
Orders to explain themselves more clearly. The Tribunate 
took the merit of anticipating this explanation, by voting the re- 
establishment of hereditary monarchy in favour of Bonaparte 
and his family (April 30.) The Senate, not wishing to be be- 
hind in complaisance, acceded to the desire ; and a decree of 
that Body declared Bonaparte Emperor of the French (May 
18;) conferring on him the Imperial dignity, to be hereditary 
ni himself, and his lawful or adopted sons, to the exclusion of 
his daughters ; and failing the males, to his brothers Joseph and 
Louis, and their male descendants. 

The same decree of the Senate made several important 
changes in the constitution, with the view of rendering it per- 
fectly monarchical. Bonaparte accepted the dignity which 
had been conferred on him. He only asked, that the nation 
should be consulted upon the question of hereditary right. 
Wishing to legalize this attempt in the eyes of the people ; he 
invited the sovereign Pontiff' to Paris to crown him. Tliis ce- 
remony took place in the Church of Notre-Dame (Dec. 2, 1804;) 
and contrary to the general custom, Bonaparte put the crown 
on his own head, after which he placed it upon that of his 
spouse. Some weeks afterwards, in opening the Session ol 
the Legislative Body, he solemnly declared, that, as he was satis- 
fied with his grandeur, he would make no more additions to 
the Empire. 

The base transaction of 21st March was followed up by an 
exchange of ver5^violent letters, between the Russian ambassador 
at Paris, and the minister of Bonaparte. In addition to the indig- 
nation which that event had excited in Alexander, and which 
the prevailing tone of the notes of the French minister were not 
calculated to diminish ; there was a dissatisfaction, on account 
of the non-execution of many of the conditions agreed to m the 
tieaty of 10th October 1801. Alexander demanded, that the 



486 CHAPTER XI. 

French troops should be withdrawn f^om ihe kingdom of Naples , 
that Bonaparte should concert with him as to the principles upon 
which the affairs of Italy were to be regulated ; that with&ut de- 
lay he should indemnify the King of Sardinia, and evacuate 
Hanover (July 27, 1804.) To these, Bonaparte only replied by 
recriminations, when the two Courts recalled their respective 
ambassadors. The Emperor had not waited for this opportunity 
to employ means for setting bounds to the ambition of Bona- 
parte. By the declarations interchanged betwixt the Courts of 
St. Petersburg and Berlin (May 3, and 24,) it was agreed, that 
they should not allow the French troops in Germany to go be- 
yond the frontier of Hanover ; and that should this happen, each 
of these two Courts should employ 40,000 men to repel such an 
attempt. The Prussian declaration added, moreover, that there 
should be no dispute as to the countries situated to the west of 
the Weser. Not content with having thus provided for the se- 
curity of the North of Germany, the Emperor Alexander imme- 
diately concerted measures with Austria, with the view of 
opposing a barrier to the usurpations of Fraii?e. Declarations, 
in the shape of a convention, were exchanged between these two 
Courts before the end of the year ; and they agreed to set on foot 
an army of 350,000 men. 

The maritime war, like that of 1803, was limited to threats, 
and immense preparations on the part of Bonaparte, and on the 
part of Sir Sidney Smith, to attempt preventing the union of 
the French fleet, or for burning their shipping in their own ports. 
The English took possession of the Dutch colony of Surinam 
(May 4;) and towards the end of the year commenced hostilities 
against Spain. 

The first six months of the year 1805 were marked by new ag- 
grandizements on the part of Bonaparte in Italy. 1. A decree of 
the Estates of the Italian Republic assembled at Paris (Mar. 18,) 

firoclaimed Napoleon Bonaparte King of Italy ; and it was stipu- 
ated that he should remit that crown to one of his legitimate or 
adopted sons, so soon as the foreign troops should have evacuated 
the kingdom of Naples (where there were no foreigners except 
the French troops,) the Seven Islands and Malta; and that 
henceforth the crowns of France and Italy should never be united 
in the same person. Bonaparte repaired to IVlilan (May 26,) 
where he was crowned with the iron crown of the Emperors of 
Germany, who were kings of Italy. Eugene Beauharnais, the 
son of the Empress Josephine, was appointed his viceroy. 2. He 
conferred the principality of Piombino, under the title of a here- 
ditary fief of the French empire, on Eliza Bacciochi his sister, 
and her male descendants (May 25.) ' This completed the spolia- 



I 



PERIOD IX. A. D. 1802—3810. 487 

tion of the House of Buoncompagni, to whom that title and es- 
tfite belonged, together with the greater pan of the Isle of Elba. 
3. The Senate and people of the Ligurian Republic demanded 
voluntarily, as is said, to be united to the French Empire. Their 
request was agreed to (June 5;) and the territory of that Repub- 
lic was divided into three departments. 4. The Republic of 
Lucca demanded from Bonaparte a new constitution, and a prince 
of his family. By a constitutional statute (June 23,) that Repub- 
lic was erected into a principality, under the protection of France ; 
and conferred as a hereditary right on Felix Bacciochi, and his 
wife Eliza Bonaparte. 5. The States of Parma seemed destined 
to be given up by way of compensation to the King of Sardinia, 
together with the territory of Genoa ; but Bonaparte, finding 
himself involved with the Emperor Alexander, caused them to 
be organized according to the system of France. 

It was impossible for the sovereigns of Europe not to unite 
against a conqueror who seemed to apply to politics that maxim 
of the civil law, which makes every thing allowable that the 
laws do not forbid. We have already seen that Russia and 
Austria had concerted measures for setting bounds to these usur- 
pations. But it was William Pitt, who was restored to the 
British ministry in the month of May 1804, that conceived the 
plan of the third coalition. Disdaining the petty resources which 
the preceding ministry had employed for harassing France, he 
conceived the idea of a grand European League, for the pur- 
pose of rescuing from the dominion of Bonaparte the countries 
which France had subdued since 1792, and for reducing that 
kingdom within its ancient limits. With regard to the territories 
which were to be taken from France, he proposed arrangements, 
by means of which they might form a barrier against her future 
projects of aggrandizement ; and finally, to introduce into Europe 
a general system of public right. In fact, the plan of Mr. Pitt, 
which was communicated to the Russian government (June 19, 
1805,) was the same as that which, ten years afterwards, was 
executed by the Grand Alliance. If this plan failed in 1805, it 
was only because they calculated on the participation of Prussia, 
as an indispensable condition ; which they did not give up when 
that power had declared her resolution to preserve her neutrality. 

By the treaty of April 11th, between Russia and Great Britain, 
it was agreed that the Emperor Alexander should make another 
attempt for arranging matters with Bonaparte, so as to prevent 
the war. M. de NovosilzofT, one of the Russian ministers, was 
sent to Paris. On his arrival at Berlin, he received the pass- 
ports which the cabinet of Prussia had procured for him at Paris ; 
but at the same time, he received an order from St. Petersburg 



488 CHAPTER XL 

noi to continue his journey. The annexation of the Ligurian 
Republic to France, at the moment when they were making con- 
ciliatory overtures lo Bonaparte, appeared too serious an outrage 
for the Emperor to prosecute farther negotiations. War was 
consequently resolved on. 

The preparations for the invasion of England had been ear- 
ned on for some time with extraordinary vigour. Every thing 
seemed to announce, that Bonaparte meant lo attempt that peril- 
ous enterprise. Pan of his troops had already embarked (Aug 
27,) when all of a sudden the camp at Boulogne was broken up. 
and the army directed to move towards the Rhine, which it pass- 
ed within a month after. Austria had set on foot three armies. 
The Archduke Charles commanded that of Italy, where it was 
expected a decisive blow was to be struck ; the second army, 
under the command of the Archduke John, was stationed in the 
Tyrol, to maintain a communication with the third army on the 
Inn, which was commanded nominally by the Archduke Fer- 
dinand the Emperor's cousin, but in reality by General Mack. 
The first Russian army under the command of General Kutusoflf 
had arrived in Gallicia, and was continuing its march in all 
haste. It was followed by another under Michelson. The Rus- 
sian troops in Dalmatia were to attempt a landing in Italy. 

The army of Mack passed the Inn (Sept. 8.) They had 
reckoned on the co-operation of the Elector of Bavaria ; but that 
prince, who was always distrustful of Austria, abandoned the 
cause of the allies, and retired with his troops into Franconia. 
The Electors of Wurtemberg and Baden were desirous of con- 
cluding treaties of alliance with Bonaparte, after he had passed 
the Rhine ; these treaties were signed at Ludwigsburg and Et- 
tingen (Oct. 4, and 10.) The plan of Bonaparte was to cut off 
the army of Mack who had entered into Swabia, from that of 
Kutusoff which was marching through Austria. In this he suc- 
ceeded, by presuming to violate the Prussian territory. Mar- 
mont who had come by way of Mayence, and Bernadotte who 
had conducted the army into Franconia, where they were joined 
by the Bavarians, traversed the country of Anspach, and came 
thus on the rear of the Austrian army (Oct. 6.) From that date 
scarcely a day passed without a battle favourable to the French. 
Several divisions of the Austrians were obliged to lay down 
their arms. Mack, who had thrown himself into Ulm, lost all 
resolution, and signed a capitulation (Oct. 17,) by which he pro 
mised to surrender if assistance did not arrive within eight days. 
He did not, however, wait for this delay. By a second capitulation 
two days after, he surrendered on the spot with 25,000 men. 

The army of Mack was totally destroyed, except 6000 caval- 



I'ERIOD IX. A. D. 1S02— ISIO. 489 

ry, with which the Archduke Ferdinand had opened himself a 
passage through Franconia ; and 20,000 others with which Kien- 
mayer had retired to Braunau, where he was met by the van- 
guard of Kuiusofif. These two generals continued their retreat. 
The Russian army repassed the DanuLc near Grein (Nov. 9,) 
and directed their march towards the Moraa. A few days after 
(j\ov. 13,) Vienna, the capital of Austria, fell into the hands of 
the French. They passed the Danube near that city, and pur- 
sued the Russians. In the meantime General Buxhowden with 
ihe second Russian army, having joined KutusotTat Olmutz, on 
the same day that the Emperor Alexander arrived in the camp, 
they conceived themselves strong enough to encounter the ene- 
my, and immediately discontinued their retreat. The battle of 
Austerlitz, which Bonaparte fought (Dec. 2,) with the combi- 
ned army of the Auslrians and Russians, decided the campaign 
in his favour. 

Meantime Bonaparte found himself in a position which might 
become dangerous. When the Archduke Charles had perceived 
that the French had concentrated their forces on the Danube, he 
sent supplies to General Mack, and commenced his retreat from 
Italy, that he might be nearer the centre of hostilities. This 
retreat he could not effect, except by hazarding several engage- 
ments with Massena, who continued the pursuit. When near 
Cilley he formed a junction with the Archduke John, who had 
retreated from the Tyrol (Nov. 27.) The united armies of these 
two princes amounted to 80,000 men, with whom they marched 
towards Vienna ; while the Hungarians rose en masse to defend 
their sovereign. The next day after the battle of Austerlitz, the 
Russian army received a reinforcement of 12,000 men. An 
army composed of Prussians, Saxons, and Hessians were on the 
point of penetrating into Franconia ; and some corps of Prus- 
sians, Russians, Swedes, Hanoverians, and English, had joined 
a second army in the north of Germany, ready to invade Bel- 
gium. Moreover, the English and the Russians were preparing 
to effect a landing in the kingdom of Naples. 

It was in this critical moment that the Cabinet of Vienna 
signed an armistice at Austerlitz, by which they engaged to send 
back the Russian army, and to quell the insurrection in Hun- 
gary. Within twenty days after, peace was signed at Presburg 
between Austria and France (Dec. 26.) The former acknow- 
ledged all the claims of Bonaparte, and ceded to him, to form a 
part of the kingdom of Italy, the ancient states of Venice, with 
Dalmatia and Albania ; and tc his allies, the Elector of Baden 
and the new Kings of Bavaria and VVurtemberg, the Tyrol and 
all her hereditary possessions in Swabia. 



490 CHAPTER XI. 

The violation of the Prussian territory in Franconia, had ex- 
cited the most lively indignation at Berlin. The King resolved, 
sword in hand, to avenge this outrage against his royal dignity. 
The Prussian troops occupied Hanover, which the French had 
just evacuated ; and that country was restored to its legitimate 
sovereign. A body of Russians, for whom they had till then 
vainly demanded a passage through Silesia, obtained permission 
to traverse that province to join the army of Kutusoff. The 
Emperor Alexander had himself arrived at Berlin (Oci. 25,) as 
well as the Archduke Anthony, Grand-Master of the Teutonic 
Knights. A convention was concluded at Potsdam (Nov. 3,) 
between Alexander and Frederic III. of Prussia. This latter 
prmce joined the coalition, with the reservation of a preliminaiy 
attempt to obtain the assent of Bonaparte to conditions extremely 
equitable. In case these were rejected, Frederic promised to 
take the field v/ith 180,000 men, who in fact, were put in a con- 
dition to march at the earliest notice. Count Haugwitz, who 
had been sent to Vienna as the bearer of overtures of peace to 
Bonaparte, accompanied with an energetic declaration, took it 
into his head that it would be prejudicial to the interests of Prus- 
sia were he to press the object of his commission ; he resolved, 
therefore, to wait the course of events. After the truce of Aus- 
terlitz, he took it upon him to change the system of his govern- 
ment. Without having any sort of authority, he concluded an 
alliance with Bonaparte at Vienna (Dec. 15,) for the guarantee 
of their respective states, and for those of Bavaria and the Porte. 
Prussia was to cede the principality of Anspach to Bavaria ; 
that of Neufchatel to France ; and that of Cleves to a prince of 
the Empire, whom Bonaparte might name. In return Prussia 
was to get possession of the Electorate of Hanover. 

When Count Haugwitz arrived at Berlin with the treaty, 
Frederic at first was inclined to reject it ; but the minister having 
represented to him the danger to which this would expose him 
in the present state of afl^airs, the King rc'ictantly consented to 
ratifj' the treaty ; provided a clause wasaQ 'id, that the occupa- 
tion of the provinces mutually ceded should only be announced 
as provisional, until the King of England should give his assent, 
by a future treaty, to the cession of Hanover. It was in this 
manner that Prussia, in effect, got possession of that Electorate 
(Jan. 27, 1806.) Meantime, Count Haugwitz, who had repaired 
to Paris, found it impossible to obtain the acceptance of Bona- 
parte to the ratification of the treaty so modified. He then 
signed a second convention (Feb. 15,) by which Prussia enga- 
ged to declare the occupation of Hanover definitive ; and to shut 
the rivers in the North of Germany against the English. The 



PERIOD IX, A. D. 1802 -1810. 491 

King of Prussia, who had already disbanded his army, found 
himself in a situation that obliged him to ratify that arrangement. 
Bonaparte had made prodigious efforts to revive the French 
marine. The fleet at Rochefort, commanded by Admiral Mis- 
siessi, had taken the opportunity of sailing from that port (Jan. 
11, 1805.) They had set out with the intention of levying con- 
tributions in the Little Antilles, belonging to the English ; and 
after throwing in supplies to General Ferrand who still kept 
possession of St. Domingo, they had returned without accident 
to Rochefort. The fleet at Toulon, consisting of fourteen ves- 
sels of the line, commanded by Admiral Villeneuve, and hav- 
ing on board troops under the command of General Lauriston, 
probably destined for Ireland, had repaired to Cadiz (April 9,) 
where they were joined by the Spanish fleet under Admiral 
Gravina. Next day the two combined fleets sailed from that 
port, but afterwards separated. That under Villeneuve had 
proceeded to Martinico ; but being apprised of the arrival of 
Lord Nelson at Barbadoes, Villeneuve again joined the Span- 
ish Admiral, when the fleet returned to Europe. An engage 
ment took place near Cape Finisterre (July 22,) which was 
honourable to Sir Robert Calder, the English Admiral, who 
captured two ships of the line. Being soon after considerably 
reinforced, and amounting to thirty-five ships of the line, they 
set sail for Cadiz, where a partial blockade was maintained for 
some time by Calder and CoUingwood. But Nelson, who had 
been invested with the command of the English fleet, induced 
the enemy, by means of a pretended retreat, to leave their sta- 
tion. An engagement took place off Cape Trafalgar (Oct. 21,) 
which cost the English Admiral his life, but which ruined the 
combined fleet. Villeneuve was made prisoner, and Gravina 
fled towards Cadiz with ten ships. This glorious victory se- 
cured to England the command of the sea. 

When Bonaparte had made preparations for marching against 
Austria, he resolved to reinforce his army in Italy by the troops 
which occupied a part of the kingdom of Naples. To ingrati- 
ate himself with Ferdinand IV., he concluded a treaty with that 
prince ^Sept. 21,) by which the latter, on obtaining the evacua- 
tion 01 his own states, promised to remain neutral. He did not 
depend, however, on that monarch's fulfilling his promise. It 
was a part of the plan of the allies, that the Russian and Eng- 
lish armies should land in the kingdom of Naples ; the one by 
the way of Corfu, and the other from Malta. The plan was 
carried into execution, and the foreign troops were received as 
friends. A decree of Napoleon, dated from Schoenbrun (Dec. 
27,) had declared that the dynasty of the Bourbons had ceased 



492 CHAPTER XI. 

to reign at Naples. After the battle of Austerlilz, the Russians 
and English abandoned Italy ; and Ferdinand IV. found him- 
self without defence, exposed to a French army, who were ap- 
proaching his capital. He embarked for Sicily, when the French 
entered Naples (Jan. 1806,) and Joseph Bonaparte, the brother 
of Napoleon, Avas created King of the Two Sicilies (March 30,) 
although his sway never extended farther than the kingdom of 
Naples. 

Those are probably in a mistake, who imagine they find in 
the conduct of Bonaparte, the gradual development of a great 
plan, conceived before-hand ; and springing from his head, so 
to speak, like the fabled Minerva from the brain of Jupiter. 
The circumstances in which he was placed, the success of his 
arms, and the weakness of foreign Cabinets, suggested to him 
one idea after another. It was when he was on his march 
against the Russians, that he received the news of the battle of 
Trafalgar, which had completely destroyed the labour of three 
years, and annihilated his hopes of reducing England by plant- 
ing his standard on her soil. His imagination then conceived 
the plan of opposing one combination of strength to another, 
and surrounding France with a number of states, independent 
in appearance, but subject to the direction of the head of the 
Empire. 

After the peace of Presburg, he had repaired to Munich, 
where he adopted his stepson, Eugeue Beauharnais, and de- 
clared him his successor in the kingdom of Italy. In announ- 
cing this elevation to the Senate, (Jan. 12, 1806,) he declared 
that he reserved to himself the right of determining the common 
tie which was to unite all the States composing the Federative 
System of the French Empire. This was the first time that 
this system was spoken of. In a short time after, he declared, 
that the whole peninsula of Italy made part of the Grand Em- 
pire. Finally, a constitutional statute of the Imperial family, 
which he published at that time (March 30,) may be regarded 
as the fundamental law of the Federative System he had lately 
announced. That statute granted to the Emperor of the French 
an absolute supremacy over all the sovereigns of his family ; and 
he no doubt had great hopes, that the time would arrive when 
no others would be found in any of the adjacent states. 

In annexing the Venetian provinces to the kingdom of Italj/, 
Bonaparte detached from them Massa-Carrara and Carfagnaua, 
which he bestowed on the Prince of Lucca. At the same time, 
he created within these provinces twelve dutchies, as hereditary 
fiefs of the Empire, and three within the states of Parma ; all 
of which he disposed of in favour of his generals and ministers. 



PERIOD IX. A. D. 17S9— 1815. 493 

The dutchy of Cleves, ceded by Prussia, as well as that of 
Berg which had been ceded to him by the King of Bavaria, 
were conferred, together with the hereditary dignity of Admiral 
of France, on his brother-in-law Joachim Murat (March 30.) 
Alexander Berthier was created Prince of Neufchatel (June 5.) 
At a later period, he granted the dutchy of Benevento to M. 
Talleyrand Perigord, under the title of Sovereign Principality ; 
>and the principality of Pontecorvo to Jean Baptiste Bernadotte, 
the brother-in-law of Joseph Bonaparte. He took these two ter- 
ritories from the States of the Church, under the pretext that 
their sovereignty was an object of litigation between the Courts 
of Rome and Naples ; an allegation which was not true. 

The continuation of the History of Bonaparte presents us 
with a series of new usurpations and aggressions. Towards 
the end of January, the French troops entered into the free city 
of Frankfort, Avhere they levied four millions, to punish the in- 
habitants for their connexion with the English. Bonaparte was 
living at that time in the most perfect peace with the German 
Empire to which that city belonged, and which could not protect 
it. By the treaty of Presburg, the Bocca di Cattaro, in Dalma- 
tia, was to be restored to the French ; but the Russians, whose 
fleet was cruising off these coasts, immediately took possession 
of that place (Feb. 4.,) at the moment when the Austrians were 
about to surrender it to the French. Bonaparte made this a 
pretext for refusing to give up to the Court of Vienna the for- 
tress of Braunau, which he was to evacuate according to the 
stipulations of that same treaty, and for leaving a part of his 
army in Germany. He did more ; he ordered General Lauris- 
ton, who commanded the French army in Dalmatia, to occupy 
Ragusa (May 27,) a Republic placed under the protection of the 
Porte, with whom there subsisted a treaty of peace. It was not, 
however, until the 13th August 1807, that Ragusa was formally 
united to the kingdom of Italy. 

The Elector of Baden and the Princes of Nassau were oblig- 
ed to make cessions to France. The former surrendered Kehl, 
and the latter Cassel and Kostheim, opposite Mayence. Wesel, 
a fortress in the dutchy of Cleves was likewise occupied by the 
French troops. All these were so many violations of the peace 
of Luneville, and the treaty of Vienna in 180f5. 

In order to promote this federative system, the States-General 
of the Batavian Republic received a hint to petition Bonaparte 
for a King. A treaty was in consequence concluded at Paris 
(March 24,) by which Louis, the brother of Napoleon, was cre- 
ated Hereditary and Constitutional King of Holland ; the title 
to descend to his male issue. That young man accepted with 



494 CHAPTER XI. 

reluctance a. crown which he had never coveted, and which ho 
wore with much dignity. 

William Pitt, whom history would have been proud to call the 
Great Pitt, had she not already given that title to his father, had 
died about the beginning of the year (Jan. 23.) Charles Fox, 
his former antagonist, succeeded him in the ministry. He im- 
mediately entered into negotiations for peace between France 
and England. This commission, on the part of the latter, was 
intrusted first to Lord Yarmouth and afterwards to Lord Lau- 
derdale. After the death of Fox (Sept. 13,) the negotiations 
ended without having produced any change in the relations be- 
tween France and England ; nevertheless they deserve to be 
placed among the important events of that year, as they were 
the immediate cause of the war with Prussia, as we shall have 
occasion to mention. 

The Emperor Alexander likewise made an attempt for a re- 
conciliation with Bonaparte. He sent M. D'Oubril to Paris, 
who, after a negotiation of ten days, concluded a treaty with 
General Clarke, the French plenipotentiary, (July 20, 1806,) by 
which it was agreed that the Russian troops should evacuate 
the Bocca di Cattaro, and the French troops quit Ragusa ; that 
the independence of the Republic of the Seven Islands should be 
acknowledged, as well as the independence and integrity of the 
Porte ; that in three months the French troops should evacuate 
Germany; that the two parties should use their joint influence 
to procure a cessation of the war between Prussia and Sweden; 
that Bonaparte should accept the mediation of Russia, in nego- 
tiating a maritime peace. A secret article secured to Ferdi- 
nand IV. the Balearic Isles, in compensation for the kingdom of 
Naples. It thus appeared that the King of Sardinia was the 
greatest sulTerer. The Emperor Alexander refused to ratify 
this treaty, whether it was that he considered the terms not alto- 
gether honourable, or that he was displeased with the conclu- 
sion of the Confederation of the Rhine, which took place at this 
time. 

The Confederation of the Rhine was undoubtedly the most 
important consequence of the peace of Presburg. That event 
which entirely changed the state of Germany, and placed so 
large a portion of that Empire under obedience to Bonaparte, 
was prepared by the article of the peace which recognised the 
sovereignty of the Kings of Bavaria and Wurtemberg, and the 
Elector of Baden ; as well as by several other irregular transac- 
tions which took place after that time. Such was the conduct 
of the Elector Arch-Chancellor, in arrogating to himself the 
right of appointing his own successor ; and nominating Cardmal 



itRiou IX. A. D. 1802—1810. 495 

Fesch as such; who was Bonaparte's uncle. The Confedera- 
tion of the Rhine was concluded at Paris (July 12, 1S06,) be- 
tween Bonaparte and sixteen of the German princes, including 
the Duke of Cleves, who separated from the Germanic Em- 
pire, and formed a particular union among themselves, under 
the protection of Bonaparte. 

The declarations which the minister of France and those of 
the Confederated Estates, remitted on the same day to the Diet 
of Ratisbon, intimated to that assembly, that the German Em- 
pire had ceased to exist. The Chief of the Germanic body, who 
had been kept ignorant of all these measures, then published a 
spirited declaration (Aug. 6,) by which he resigned a crown 
which could only appear valuable in his eyes so long as he was 
able to fulfil the duties, and exercise the prerogatives which 
were attached to it. 

This transaction, v.rhich put an end to the German Empire, 
had been kept a secret from Prussia. Bonaparte, in announcing 
to Frederic William the result which it had produced, invited 
him to form a similar confederation in the North of Germany ; 
but at the same time, he negotiated privately with the Electors 
of Hesse and Saxony, to prevent them from entering into that 
union ; and declared, that he could never permit the cities of 
Bremen, Hamburg, and Lubec, to become parties to it. In his 
negotiations with England, he proposed to make over these ci- 
ties to Ferdinand IV. King of the Two Sicilies. He carried 
nis stratagems even farther. He several times offered to the 
English plenipotentiaries the same Electorate of Hanover w'hich, 
a few months before, he had almost compelled Prussia to claim 
as her own ; and he offered to the Elector of Hesse the princi- 
pality of Fulda, which had been granted to the House of Orange, 
then in strict alliance with that of Brandeburg. All these un- 
derhand manosuvres opened the eyes of the Cabinet of Berlin, 
which immediately resolved to declare war. Unfortunately for 
Prussia, she commenced hostilities without Avaiting the arrival 
of the supplies which Russia owed her, in virtue of the alliance 
between the two States by the treaty of Peterhoff" (July 2S, 
1800;) and she had to take the field against an active enemy, 
whose warlike troops were already in the heart of Germany. 

General Knobelsdorff, whom the King of Prussia had sent to 
Paris, gave in the demands which were to be considered as his 
ultimatum : — Bonaparte treated his propositions as extravagant 
and insulting, and accordingly commenced hostilities. The 
campaign was decided by the battle of Jena, or rather by two 
battles which were fought on the same day (Oct. 14, 1806.) 
Bonaparte in person gained the one near Jena over Prince Ho- 



496 CHAPTER XI. 

henlohe; Marshal Davoust gained the other near Auerstadt 
over theJ)uke of Brunswick, Commander-in-chief of the Prus- 
sian army. The rout was complete. For a short time the 
troops retired without confusion. The approach of the enemy's 
cavalry, however, extinguished all remains of order, and the 
most precipitate dispersion of the vanquished army ensued. 
About 20,000 were killed and wounded in the battle and pur- 
suit ; and the prisoners formed at least an equal number. The 
scattered remains of the troops who united after the action, were 
either defeated or obliged to surrender as prisoners of war. The 
King, with the wreck of his army, marched back to Prussia. 
Berlin, his capital, fell into the hands of the conqueror. The 
carelessness, the unskilfulness, or the treachery of their com- 
manders, and the want of means of defence, were the causes 
why several fortresses, and whole battalions of troops, surren- 
dered after a slight resistance. There were some who were 
even obliged to capitulate in spite of their bravery. At Erfurt, 
Field-Marshal Mellendorff capitulated with 14,000 men (Oct. 
16.) Spandau fell on the same day that the enemy entered into 
Berlin (Oct. 25.) Prince Hohenlohe, after a brave defence, ca- 
pitulated at Prentzlau (Oct. 29,) with a corps originally consist- 
ing of 16,000 infantry, and sixteen regiments of cavalry. Stettin 
and Custrin opened their gates after a slight resistance (Nov. 1.) 
At Lubec, 21,000 men, with General Blucher, laid down their 
arms (Nov. 7.) Magdeburg capitulated next day with 22,000 
men. 

Immediately after the battle of Jena, Bonaparte took posses- 
sion of the principality of Fulda. He also sent a message to the 
old Duke of Brunswick, that none of his family should ever reign 
after him. That prince died of the wounds he had received at 
Auerstadt ; and his lifeless body was not permitted to be deposi- 
ted among the ashes of his ancestors. The Elector of Hesse, 
who had remained neutral, was declared an enemy to France, 
and his territories seized. Bonaparte, in return, granted neu- 
trality to the Elector of Saxony, whose troops had fought against 
him at Jena. 

The King of Prussia had tried to allay the storm which threat- 
ened his monarchy. The Marquie de Lucchesini and General 
Zastrow entered into a negotiation with Marshal Duroc at Char- 
lottenburg (Oct. 30.) Bonaparte refused to ratify the prelimi- 
naries which were signed there, because the idea had occurred 
to him in the meantime of exciting the Poles to insurrection. 
An armistice was then signed (Nov. 16,) on conditions extremely 
rigorous, by which Breslau, Glogau, Colberg, Graudentz and 
Dantzic, were delivered up to the French. Frederic, who had 



PERIOD IX. A. D. 1802—1810. 497 

resolved to throw himself on Russia, whose forces were approach- 
ing in all haste, rejected that armistice. From Berlin Bona- 
parte repaired to Posnania, where he concluded a treaty with 
the Elector of Saxony (Dec. 11.) That prince then assumed 
the title of King, joined the Confederation of the Rhine, and got 
possession of the Circle of Cotbus, belonging to Prussia. By a 
treaty signed at the same place (Dec. 15,) the Dukes of Sax- 
ony, of the race of Ernest, were likewise received into the Con- 
federation of the Rhine. 

A Russian army of 90,000 men had arrived in Prussia in the 
month of November. Frederic William, on his side, formed a 
new army of 40,000 men. Several actions took place without 
any decisive result; but after the battle of Pultusk (Dec. 26,) 
where the victory was claimed both by the French and Rus- 
sians, each party retired to winter quarters. 

During Bonaparte's stay at Berlin, he conceived the idea of 
the Continental System ; or at least reduced its elements into 
shape. The purport of this system was to ruin the commerce, 
and by consequence, the prosperity of England, by excluding 
from the Continent of Europe the importation not only of her 
own manufactures, but the productions of her colonies ; the use 
of which had become, through long habit, one of the necessaries 
of life to all the nations of Europe ; and for which, moreover, 
no substitute could be found in home manufactures. This chi- 
merical scheme, and the Federative System, which we have 
already mentioned, were the two scourges which Bonaparte in- 
flicted on the Continent of Europe. The abuse, it was alleged, 
which the English made of their superiority by sea, had provo- 
ked Bonaparte to this measure. The right of blockade, that is, 
the right of a belligerent power to station a force before a hostile 
port sufficient to prevent any neutral vessel from entering, is 
founded in principle. But England pretended, that if a port 
were declared to be under blockade, it must be considered as 
actually blockaded ; and accordingly, she had declared all the 
ports between Brest and the Elbe under blockade (May 16.) 
An order issued by Bonaparte, known by the name of the De- 
cree of Berlin, declared the whole British Islands in a state of; 
blockade, by way of reprisals (Nov. 21.) He commanded all 
British subjects to be arrested, who might be found in the coun- 
tries occupied by his troops, or those of his allies. He ordered' 
their property, and every article of British or colonial produce 
on the Continent to be confiscated ; and excluded from his ports 
all vessels which should come directly from Britain, or any of 
its dependencies. The development of this system w« shall 
notice afterwards. 

32 



498 CHAPTER XI. 

The repose of the armies did not continue longer than a month. 
General Bennigsen, who had the chief command of the Russians 
and Prussians, undertook to relieve the cities of Graudeniz 
Dantzic, and Colberg. After a number of petty engagements, 
which claim no particular notice, the campaign was terminated 
by the battle of Eylau in Prussia (I'eb. 8, 1807.) Bonaparte, 
or rather Davoust, was successful against the left wing and the 
centre of the allies ; but Lestocq, the Prussian General, having 
arrived on the field of battle, near the right wing of the Prus- 
sians which had never been engaged, marched instantly to sup- 
port the left wing which was giving way, and snatched the vic- 
tory from the hands of Davoust. Bennigsen, who was in want 
of ammunition, retired towards Koningsberg, leaving Bonaparte 
on the field of battle, which was covered with 30,000 of the 
French slain, and 12,000 wounded. The Russians had lost 
17,000 men. After this carnage, Bonaparte announced that he 
had defeated the Russians, and retired behind the Passarge. 
Hostilities were then suspended for some months. 

In the month of February, negotiations for peace were re- 
newed. Bonaparte, who was at Osterode, sent General Bertrand 
to the King of Prussia at Memel, to try to detach him from 
Russia. When the King had declined this proposal, some de- 
liberation took place as to the terms of an armistice ; but the 
Emperor Alexander, who had also arrived at Memel, saw that 
this was only a mancEUvre of Bonaparte, who merely wished 
to gain time to repair his losses. The negotiations, accordingly, 
were broken off. Baron Hardenberg, who had been placed by 
the King of Prussia at the helm of foreign affairs, then resumed 
the project of Mr. Pitt, which had failed in 1805, because Count 
Haugwitz, the former minister, had dissuaded Frederic William 
from entering into the alliance. The basis of a new coalition 
was laid by the convention of Bartenstein, between Russia and 
Prussia (April 21,) in which Austria, Great Britain, Sweden 
and Denmark, were invited to join. The same day a conven- 
tion with the King of Sweden was likewise signed at Barten- 
stein, in consequence of which Prussia promised to send a body 
of troops into Pomerania. Austria was disposed to enter into 
this project, but before coming to a decision, she tried the 
scheme of mediation ; and in the month of March, new pro- 
posals for peace were made, which proved unsuccessful. Sup- 
plies were promised to Prussia by a convention signed at Lon- 
don (June 27,) but which a change of circumstances prevented 
from being ratified. 

While the armies continued in a kin^l of inaction, Marsha] 
Lefebvre pressed the siege of Dantzic. After several attempts 



I'KRioD IX. A. D. 1802— 1810. 499 

lo blockade the place, General Kalkreuth obtained a capitulation 
on very honourable terms (May 24.) Neisse, Kozel and Glatz, 
likewise capitulated in course of the following month. These two 
latter places were not to be restored by the French. Hostilities 
recommenced in the month of June. Skirmishes were daily 
taking place, until the battle of Friedland decided the campaign 
(June 14.) General Bennigsen defeated the divisions of Lan- 
nes and Mortier, when the Russians, thinking the battle was 
gained as they no longer saw the enemy, slackened their exer- 
tions ; but towards the evening Bonaparte arrived on the field 
of battle with guides, and the corps of Marshals Ney and Vic- 
tor ; and taking advantage of the confusion which appeared in 
the Russian army, he put them completely to the rout. In 
consequence of this defeat, Koningsberg opened her gates to the 
conqueror. The Russian and Prussian armies passed the Nie- 
men (June 18 ;) and next day Bonaparte entered Tilsit. 

Meantime the Cabinet of Vienna, with whom negotiations 
were still carrying on to obtain their accession to the convention 
of Bartenstein, had sent General Stutterheim to the head-quar- 
ters of the two monarchs, with power to sign a defensive al- 
liance ; but the war had then recommenced with new vigour, 
There was a party in both Cabinets, and even among the allied 
Generals, who wished to prevent this alliance ; and this party 
succeeded in their designs. A Russian General appeared at 
Tilsit on the part of Bennigsen to negotiate an armistice, which 
was concluded on the spot (June 21,) without including the 
Prussian army. Four days after, an interview took place be- 
tween Alexander and Napoleon, on the invitation of the latter, 
who wished to exert all his address to seduce the Northern Au- 
tocrat from the alliance into which he had entered. This me- 
morable interview took place on a raft in the middle of the river 
Niemen. Each prince, accompanied by five generals and cour- 
tiers, reached the raft from the opposite bank at the same mo- 
ment, and embraced each other with all the appearance of per- 
fect cordiality. They conversed for two hours in a pavilion, 
and the ambitious ruler of France displayed in such glowing 
colours the joys of arbitrary power and unlimited dominion, and 
held out such an attractive prospect of the advantages which he 
might derive from a union of councils and co-operation, that 
Alexander listened with pleasure to his new adviser, and was 
ready to rush into a new alliance. On the same day, Field- 
Marshal Kalkreuth signed an armistice on the part of Prussia. 
The next day he had a second interview, at which the King 
of Prussia assisted, who, when he objected to some parts of the 
proposed treaty, was insulted with a hint of his not being enti- 



500 CHAPTER XI. 

tied 10 the honour of consultation, as he had been so conipletely 
conquered. It was on this occasion that Bonaparte demanded 
that the Emperor Alexander should dismiss his minister Baron 
Budberg, and the king of Prussia Baron Hardenberg. The Prince 
Kourakin, and Count de Goltz were substituted in their place. 

The treaty with Russia was first signed (July 7.) The Em- 
peror Alexander obtained from Bonaparte the spoliation of his 
former ally, or according to the form which was given to it in 
that transaction, That the King of Prztssia should recover one 
half of his estates. The provinces which Prussia had obtained 
by the second and third division of Poland were ceded to the 
King of Saxony, under the title of the Dutchy of Warsaw, 
with the exception of the fortress of Graudentz, which remained 
in the possession of Prussia, and the city of Dantzic, which was 
to regain its independence, with the exception of the department 
of Bialystock which was annexed to the Russian Empire. Alex- 
ander acknowledged the Kings created by Bonaparte, including 
the King of Westphalia. He likewise acknowledged the Con- 
federation of the Rhine, and ceded to Bonaparte the Seignory of 
Jever, which he inherited from his mother. He promised to 
withdraw his troops from Moldavia and Wallachia ; and to make 
common cause with Bonaparte against England, should the lat- 
ter refuse to make peace by submitting to the principles of free 
commerce by sea. It appears, moreover, by certain secret arti- 
cles, that Alexander promised to surrender to Bonaparte the 
Bocca di Cattaro, and the isles of the Ionian Republic ; which 
took place in the month of August following. The peace which 
was signed between Russia and Bonaparte two days after (July 
9,) included nearly the same stipulations. 

A special convention was required for executing the articles 
of the treaty, which related to the evacuation of the States of the 
King of Prussia. This was negotiated and signed at Konings- 
berg (July 12,) with unpardonable precipitancy, by Field-Marshal 
Kalkreuth, who forgot to insert certain stipulations so essential 
and so obvious, that it must have appeared to him superfluous 
to mention them. Bonaparte took advantage of these omissions 
to ruin the provinces which were left in possession of Prussia. 
It may be justly said, that the convention of Koningsberg did 
nearly as much mischief to Prussia as the peace of Tilsit itself. 
It occasioned the necessity of signing a series of subsequent con- 
ventions, by each of which Prussia had to submit to some new 
sacrifice. Some of the more important of these we shall after- 
wards have occasion to mention. 

The 'King of Sweden, who was attacked in Pome ran ia by 
Marshal Mortier, had concluded an armistice at Schlatkorv 



PERIOD IX. A. D. 1802—1810. 501 

(April 18.) Gustavus Adolphus IV. projected an attack on Mar- 
shal Brune, while a body of 10,000 Prussians were to make a 
descent for blockading Colberg. To carry this project into exe- 
cution, he was so eager to declare against the armistice, that, on 
the signature of the peace of Tilsit, he found himself alone under 
arms, and exposing his troops to great danger. This unseason- 
able zeal obliged him to evacuate Stralsund and the Avhole of 
Pomerania (Sept. 7.) 

In erecting the Dutchy of Warsaw, Bonaparte had given it a 
constitution modelled after that of France, without paying atten- 
tion to the difference of manners, customs, and localities of the 
inhabitants. The King of Saxony was put in possession of that 
State ; but the new dutchy was nothing else than a province of 
the French Empire. The city of Dantzic was again plunged 
into a state of the most abject dependence ; and until the yeai 
1814, it remained under the orders of a Governor-general ap- 
pointed by the French. The throne of Westphalia was destined 
by Bonaparte for his younger brother Jerome. That monarchy 
was composed of the greater part of those provinces ceded by 
the King of Prussia ; of nearly all the estates of the Elector ol 
Hesse and the Duke of Brunswick ; of a district belonging to the 
Electorate of Hanover ; of the principality of Corvey, and the 
county of Rittberg — containing in all about two millions of in- 
habitants. Only a small part of this kingdom was situated in 
Westphalia ; and it is not known by what chance the name of 
that country was selected for the new monarchy. Deputies from 
that kingdom were summoned to Paris, where they received 
from the hands of Bonaparte a constitutional charter (Nov. 15,) 
in the construction of which they had never once been consulted. 
As to the other districts which Bonaparte had taken possession 
of in Germany, or of which he had deprived their rightful sove- 
reigns, viz. the Electorate of Hanover, the principalities of Erfurt. 
Fulda, Baireuth, and Munster, with the counties of Catzeneln- 
bogen and Hanau, they were governed entirely to his own inter- 
est, and disposed of at his convenience. 

While the armies of Bonaparte were occupied in Prussia, 
Spain formed the resolution of shaking off the yoke which the 
Emperor of France had imposed upon her. Charles IV. soli- 
cited privately the mediation of the Emperor Alexander, to bring 
about a peace with England. By a proclamation of October 
30th 1806, a levy of 40,000 men was ordered for the defence ot 
the country, without mentioning against what enemy. This 
imprudent step, which they had not courage to prosecute, ruined 
Spain. At the commencement of 1807, a French army was as- 
sembled in the vicinity of Bayonne. A trap was laid for Charles 



502 CHAPTER XI. 

IV. ; and he had the misfortune to fall into it. According to a 
convention signed at Fountainbleau (Oct. 27,) between his pleni- 
potentiary and that of Bonaparte, for the partition of Portugal, 
that kingdom was to be divided into three lots. The most north- 
erly part was destined for the King of Etruria, (who was to sur- 
render up Tuscany to Bonaparte,) and to be called the kingdom 
of Northern Lusitania. The southern part, comprising Aigarves, 
was to form a principality for Don Manuel Godoy. The pro- 
vinces in the middle part were to be disposed of at the general 
peace, when the King of Spain was to assume the title of Em- 
peror of the two Americas. 

Immediately after the signing of this treaty, Bonaparte an- 
nounced to the Queen-Dowager of Etruria, who was Regent for 
her son Louis II., that the kingdom no longer belonged to him; 
and that a new destiny awaited him in Spain. In course of a 
few days, the French troops occupied Tuscany. Maria Louisa 
resigned the government, and retired to Madrid. All this took 
place after Bonaparte had obtained orders that the 15,000 Span 
iards, who were in Etruria, should^ be sent to the islands of 
Denmark. 

A decree of the French Senate, of August 18th 1807, though 
not published till a month after, suppressed the Tribunate, and 
introduced other changes, intended to extinguish all traces of the 
Republic. By a treaty signed at Fountainbleau, Bonaparte made 
over to his brother Louis, the principality of East Friesland and 
the territory of Jever, in lieu of the city and port of Flushing. 

In terms of the treaty of the 27th October, 30,000 French 
troops, under the command of Junot, crossed the Pyrenees in 
two divisions ; and took possession of Pampeluna, St. Sebastians, 
Figu^ras, and Barcelona. The two divisions united again at 
Salamanca, and being reinforced by 13,000 Spaniards, they 
marched upon Lisbon ; while 40,000 others assembled at Bay- 
onne, under the pretence of supporting their companions if it 
were necessary. The Prince Regent of Portugal embarked with 
all his treasures (Nov. 29,) and departed for Brazil. The whole 
of Portugal was taken possession of; and General Junot pro- 
claimed that the Hou:,e of Braganza had ceased to reign in Eu- 
rope ; but the French never executed their scheme of partition. 

We have already observed, what progress the Federative 
system of the French Empire had made in 1807, by the founda- 
tion of the kingdom of Westphalia and the dutchy of Warsaw, 
and by the occupation of Portugal ; and we shall next advert to 
the measures adopted during the same year by Bonaparte, for 
consolidating the Continental system, and by Great Britain for 
counteracting its effects. An order was issued by the British 



£KioD IX. A. D. 1802—1810. 503 

Cabinet (Jan. 7,) declaring that no neutral vesse. would be per- 
mitted to trade with any port belonging to France or her allies, 
or occupied by their troops, or under their dependence. A de- 
cree, published at Warsaw (Jan. 25,) ordered the confiscation 
of all English merchandise in the Hanseatic towns, which had 
been occupied by the order of Bonaparte. An order of the Brit- 
ish Cabinet (March 11,) again prescribed a rigorous blockade of 
the mouths of the Elbe, the Weser, and the Ems. A declara- 
tion was made by Bonaparte (Oct. 14,) in presence of the foreign 
ambassadors at Fountainbleau, purporting that he would permit 
no connexion, either commercial or diplomatic, between the 
Continental powers and England. An order of the British 
Cabinet (Nov. 11,) declared, that all the ports and places in 
France, and the countries in alliance with them, or any other 
country at war with England, as well as all other ports and 
places in Europe where the British flag was excluded, though 
not actually at war with Great Britain ; and all other ports and 
places of the colonies belonging to her enemies, should hence 
forth be subjected to the same restrictions as if they were really 
under blockade ; and, consequently, that the vessels destined 
for these ports should be subjected to examination by the British 
cruisers ; and required to stop at a British station, and pay a 
duty proportioned to the value of the cargo. Another order of 
the British Cabinet (Nov. 25,) modified the preceding declara- 
tion in favour of neutral vessels, which should come to discharge 
either English merchandise or Colonial produce in the British 
ports. A decree of the 17th December, called the decree of 
Milan, because it was issued at that place, declared, that all 
ships which should be searched by a British vessel, or pay any 
tax whatever at the requisition of the English Government, 
should be denationalized, and regarded as English property ; and 
having thus forfeited their original and national rights, they 
might be lawfully captured wherever found. The same decree 
declared the British Isles to be in a state of blockade both by sea 
and land. 

Having thus established the Continental system, Bonaparte 
used every endeavour to make all the Continental Powers ac- 
cede to it. Prussia and Russia adhered to it, after the peace of 
Tilsit. Denmark soon entered into this French system. Spain 
acceded to it (Jan. 8,) Austria (Feb. 18, 1808,) and Sweden 
(Jan. 6, 1810 ;) so that, for some years, the Continent of Eu- 
rope had no other medium of communication with England than 
by way of Constantinople. There was one prince in Christen- 
dom, who refused his accession to the Continental system, and 
that was Pius VII. This sovereign Pontiff declared, that an 



504 CHAPTER M. 

alliance which prohibited all intercourse Avith a nation from 
whom they had suffered no grievance, was contrary to religion. 
In order to punish his Holiness for this resistance, General Miol- 
lis had orders to occupy Rome (Feb. 2, 1808.) This was the 
commencement of a series of aggressions and attacks, by which 
Bonaparte vainly hoped to bend that great personage. To 
gratify his resentment, he stripped the States of the Church, by 
a decree issued at St. Cloud (April 2,) of the provinces of Urbino, 
Ancona, Macerata and Camerino, which were annexed to the 
kingdom of Italy. 

In order to add lustre to his crown, and to attach his servants 
to him by the ties of interest, Bonaparte resolved, not to re- 
store the noblesse — though there was no reason known why he 
should not — but to create titles of nobility which should pass 
m hereditary succession to their descendants. These titles 
were those of Princes, Dukes, Counts, Barons, and Chevaliers 
or Knights. They were constituted by an Imperial statute, 
which he transmitted to the Senate ; for the decrees of the Se- 
nate were seldom used, except in declaring the union of territo- 
ries, or ordering levies of conscripts. 

The spoliation of the Church appeared but a trivial violence 
compared with that masterpiece of intrigue and cunning by 
which the House of Bourbon was deprived of the throne of 
Spain. The second French army formed at Bayonne, passed 
the Pyrenees about the beginning of the year, under the com- 
mand of Joachim Murat, and advanced slowly as if it only 
waited an order to seize the capital. A popular insurrection 
broke out at Madrid, directed against Godoy, the Prince of 
Peace ; and Charles IV., who, from the commencement of his 
reign, had been disgusted with state affairs, abdicated the crown 
in favour of his son, the Prince of Asturias (March 19, 1808,) 
who assumed the title of Ferdinand VII. The intrigues of the 
Queen-mother, who was unwilling to quit the throne, and the 
plots concerted by Murat, soon embroiled the Royal family in 
disputes. The French troops entered Madrid (Mar. 23.) Ta- 
king advantage of the inexperience of the young monarch, they 
inveigled him into an interview with Bonaparte at Bayonne, 
where Charles IV. and his Queen, allured by promises of fa- 
vour and friendship, likewise presented themselves. This weak 
prince there retracted his abdication, and ceded his dominions 
over to Bonaparte by a formal treaty (May 5.) By threatening 
Ferdinand VII. with death, they extorted from him a similar de- 
claration (May 10.) Charles IV. his Queen, and the Prince of 
Peace were conveyed to Compeigne, and afterwards to Mar- 
seilles. 



PERIOD IX. A. D. 1S02- 1810. 



505 



Ferdinand VII. and his brothers were imprisoned in the cas- 
tle of Valencay. Bonaparte conferred the throne of Spain on 
his brother Joseph (June 6,) who was then King of Naples. A 
Spanish Junta, assembled at Bayonne, received a constitution 
from the hands of Napoleon. On obtaining the crown of Spain, 
Joseph made over the kingdom of Naples to his brother, who in 
his turn resigned it to Murat, by a treaty concluded at Bayonne. 
Murat then gave up the dutchies of Cleves and Berg. 

Bonaparte found himself deceived as to the character of the 
Spanish nation, when he supposed they would tolerate this out- 
rage with impunity. A tumult of the inhabitants of Madrid 
was quelled by Murat, who ordered his troops to fire upon the 
crowd (May 2,) when upwards of 1000 people lost their lives. 
Towards the end of the same month, a general insurrection 
broke out in all those parts of Spain not occupied by the enemy. 
This was a great annoyance to Bonaparte during the rest of his 
reign, and prevented him from subduing that peninsula. It 
served as an example and encouragement to other nations to 
shake off his yoke. The Portuguese rose, in imitation of their 
neighbours. The English sent supplies to both nations ; and 
it was beyond the Pyrenees that Bonaparte experienced those 
first disasters which were the harbingers of his downfall. 

One event, more remarkable for the pomp with which it was 
accompanied, than for the consequences which it produced, 
was the interview which took place at Erfurt (Sept. 27,) be- 
tween the Emperor Alexander and Bonaparte. What negotia- 
tions might have been agitated there, are not known with cer- 
tainty ; but publicity has been given to the measures concerted 
in common between Bonaparte and Alexander for making over- 
tures of peace to England, although they must have foreseen 
that the attempt would prove fruitless. From that time an in- 
timate friendship subsisted for two years between the Courts of 
Russia and France. 

The inconsiderate haste with which Field-Marshal Kalkreuth 
had concluded the convention of Koningsberg, and the defects 
or omissions of that act, furnished the agents of Bonaparte with 
numerous pretexts for oppressing the Prussian States by per- 
petual aggressions ; and for continuing not only to occupy the 
country, but to impose taxes for the service of France, without 
deducting- their amount from the usual contribution which that 
kingdom had to pay. To extricate themselves from so harassing 
a situation. Prince William, the King's brother, who had been 
sent to Paris to negotiate for the evacuation of Prussia, signed 
a convention there (Sept. 8,) by which the King engaged to 
pay, at stated terms, the sum of 140 000,000 francs. The Em 



506 CHAPTER XI. 

peror Alexander, during the interview of Erfurt, gol this suir. 
reduced to one hundred and twenty millions. In consequence 
ot this, a new conA'ention was signed at Berlin (Nov. 3,) ac- 
cording to which, Stettin, Custrin, and Glogau, were to remain 
in the hands of the French, as security for payment of the sti- 
pulated sum ; the rest of the Prussian states were evacuated. 

Austria was on the point of entering into the fourth coalition, 
when the peace of Tilsit was concluded. From that moment 
the Cabinet of Vienna resolved to prepare for war by slow and 
successive operations, which might appear to be merely mea- 
sures of precaution ; more especially by organizing her armies 
on better principles, and training all the citizens to arms, by the 
institution of a militia called Landioehr, that they might be in 
condition to act on the spur of the moment. The Archduke 
Charles, who was appointed Generalissimo, superintended all 
these preparations, and succeeded in reviving the courage of the 
nation. Although these armaments could not escape the notice 
of the French agents, and although in the course of the year 
1808, and especially in the beginning of the year 1809, they 
had several times asked for explanations on this subject, never- 
theless. Count Stadion who was at the head of the department 
for foreign affairs, and Count Metlernich the Austrian minister 
at Paris, dissembled so well, that Bonaparte never dreamt of 
war till it was on the very point of breaking out. The time 
chosen for this was when the French armies were occupied in 
Spain and Portugal- 
Reasons — or it may be rather said pretexts — were not want- 
ing to Austria ; for undoubtedly her true motive was, to raise 
herself from that state of abasement into which she had sunk. 
Violations innumerable of the peace of Presburg, the organiz- 
ing of the Confederation of the Rhine, the compelling her to 
accede to the Continental System, and the spoliation of the 
Bourbons in Spain, were causes more than sufficient to justify 
her havingf recourse to arms. The war which Austria under- 
took in 1809, has been called the war of the fifth coalition. It 
is true that Great Britain, Portugal, Spain, and the King of 
Sicily, were her allies ; but, with the exception of the descent 
which the English made on Zealand, she had to support alone 
the whole burden of the war. On opening the campaign, she 
made an appeal to the German nation, which was answered by 
the Kings of Bavaria, Wurtemberg, and Saxony, by a declara- 
tion of war. 

The Austrians had divided their forces into three armies ; 
two hundred and twenty thousand men, under the Archduke 
Charles, were destined to act in Germany ; the Archduke Fer- 



PERIOD IX. A. P. 1802—1810. 507 

dinand of Este, with thirty-six thousand men, Avas to penetrate 
through the dutchy of Warsaw into Prussia, where he expected 
to be joined by the troops of that country. The Archduke 
John, with eighty thousand men, was to enter Italy. The 
campaign was opened, on the part of the Austrians, by the in- 
vasion of Bavaria (April 10, 1809.) Bonaparte at first beat the 
Archduke Louis and General Hiller, who commanded two divi- 
sions, at Abensberg (April 20,) and thus cut them off from the 
grand army under the Archduke Charles. The latter was him- 
self defeated at Eckmuhl and Ratisbon, three days after, and 
effected his retreat along the left bank of the Danube. Bona • 
parte then pursued Hiller, who was defeated at Ebersberg (May 
3,) and retired to Krems, on the left bank of the Danube. Vi- 
enna in consequence was left defenceless, and surrendered by 
capitulation (May 13.) It was there that Bonaparte passed. the 
Danube, and fought with the Archduke at Eberdsorff, Aspern 
and Essling, two most sanguinary engagements (May 21 — 22,) 
in which the French lost 30,000 men. He then retired to the 
Isle of Lobau, where his army, cut off from provisions and 
supplies, passed forty-eight hours in great distress, until they 
had succeeded in reconstructing the bridges which the floods of 
the Danube had carried away. In Italy the Archduke John 
had defeated Eugene Beauharnais, who commanded the French 
army, at Sa^ile ; but being informed of the defeat at Ratisbon. 
he commenced his retreat, and was defeated near the Piave 
(May 8,) after which he retired on the Raab, where he was 
again defeated (June 14.) Beauharnais then joined the army 
of Napoleon. The Archduke Ferdinand took possession of 
Warsaw, and marched as far as Thorn, where he took from the 
Prussians one hundred pieces of cannon. But an insurrection 
which happened in the rear of his army, obliged him to retreat, 
when the Polish troops took possession of Cracow (July 14.) 

About the beginning of July, Bonaparte passed over to the 
left bank of the Rhine. The battle of Enzersdorff, where Ber- 
nadotte and the Saxons distinguished themselves, was bloody, 
but not decisive : next day (July 6,) the Archduke Charles was 
defeated at Wagram, and retreated in good order into Moravia. 
An armistice was then concluded near Znaym (July 12,) on 
conditions very oppressive for Austria. But the negotiations 
for peace were long protracted ; as both parties were waiting the 
result of an expedition which the English had made to Zealand ; 
and as Austria hoped that Prussia, and perhaps even Russia, 
would declare in her favour. 

The inhabitants of the Tyrol ; who were very much attached 
to the House of Austria, from whom they had been separated at 



508 CHAPTER XI. 

the peace of Presburg, had taken up arms umler the conduct ot 
an innkeeper, named Hoffer. By the armistice of Znaym. Ans-- 
tria was compelled to abandon this brave people, whom the Bfi- 
varians and the French together had great difficulty in reducmg 
to submission. 

We cannot pass in silence the bold expedition made by the 
Duke of Brunswick, the son and heir of him who had command- 
ed at Jena. At the head of a body of volunteers which he had 
formed in Bohemia, he had entered Saxony when the armistice 
was concluded. Not being disposed to accede to it, he traversed 
the dutchy of Brunswick and the whole of Lower Saxony ; beat 
the Westphalian General Rewbel, who had attempted to stop 
his march ; and reached the mouth of the Elbe in safety, where 
he found transports which took him and his army on board, and 
conveyed them to England. 

An English fleet, commanded by Sir Richard Strachan, with 
thirty-eight thousand' troops, under the command of the Earl of 
Chatham, the brother of Mr. Pitt, was despatched to Zealand, 
with the intent of destroying the shipping, dockyards, and arse- 
nals at Antwerp and Flushing, and for occupying the Island of 
Walcheren. They landed in that Island (July 30,) of which 
they took possession, and made themselves masters of Flushing, 
after a siege of fifteen days. But Lord Chatham found it im- 
possible to execute his commission with regard to Antwerp, on 
account of the activity of Marshal Bernadotte, who had formed 
there an army of 35,000 men. The whole expedition was badly 
conducted, and in about four months Lord Chatham returned to 
England. The English destroyed the fortifications of Flushing, 
which they were unable to retain. 

Russia, as the ally of France, likewise took part in this war. 
A body of troops, commanded by Prince Galitzin, had entered 
into Galicia ; but it was merely a display, by which Alexander 
meant to fulfil an engagement that he had contracted with re- 
luctance. The peace between Austria and France was signed 
at Schoenbrunn (Oct. 14, 1809,) which regulated the territorial 
cessions made by the former to Bonaparte, the King of Saxony 
and the Emperor of Russia. The very day on which the peace 
was signed, Bonaparte united the territories which had been 
ceded to him directly into a single State, under the name of the 
Tllyrian Provinces, which he governed on his own separate ac- 
count, without annexing them to France. 

A decree of the Senate, of the 2d March 1809, erected the 
government general of the Tuscan departments into a grand 
dignity of the Empire, to be conferred on a Princess of the Im- 
perial blood, under the title of Grand Dutchess. This lady was 



PERIOD IX. A. D. 1802— ISIO. 509 

iVTadam Eliza Bacciochi, Princess of Lucca and Piombino, who 
was next day decorated with the Arch-ducal title. On the same 
day, Napoleon ceded the Grand Dutchy of Berg to his nephew, 
the son of the King of Holland ; taking the government on him- 
self during the minority of that child. 

No outrage had been able to overcome the perseverance cf 
Pius VII. Bonaparte published a decree at Schoenbrunn (May 
17,) by which the States of the Pope were annexed to the French 
Empire, and the city of Rome declared a free Imperial city 
The union of the States did take place ; but Rome had no ap- 
pearance of a free city. When the decree was put in execution 
(June 11,) the Pope published a Bull of excommunication against 
Bonaparte and his adherents, counsellors, and coadjutors. From 
that moment the venerable captive was more closely imprisoned. 
On the night of the 5th of July, he was forcibly removed from 
Rome by order of Napoleon, and transferred to Grenoble, and 
thence to Savona, where he was detained three years under 
rigorous supervision. 

The year 1809 proved disastrous for the French arms by sea. 
The captain of an English vessel, and Marques, a Portuguese 
colonel, took possession of the Island of Cayenne and French 
Guiana (Jan. 12.) Lieutenant-General Beckwith and Rear-Ad- 
miral Cochrane took Martinico by capitulation (Feb. 12.) Ad- 
miral Gambier and Lord Cochrane destroyed a French fleet, 
commanded by the Vice- Admirals Villaumez and L'Allemand 
(April 11,) in Basque Roads, by means of Congreve rockets. 
The French fort of Senegal fell into the hands of the English in 
the month of June following. General Carmichael, and a body 
of Spaniards who had arrived from Portorico, expelled the French 
from St. Domingo (July 7.) Admiral Collingwood and General 
Oswald took possession of the Ionian Islands (Oct. 8.) 

Bonaparte had now arrived at the summit of his grandeur, 
but Providence had denied him a family by his wife Josephine 
Tascher de la Pagerie. With the consent of both parties, a de- 
cree of the Senate pronounced the dissolution of that marriage 
(Dec. 16 ;) which the ecclesiastical court of Paris confirmed. 
Another decree of the Senate (Feb. 17, 1810,) conferred on the 
eldest son of the French Emperor the title of King of Rome ; 
and ordained, that the Emperor of the French should be crowned 
a second time at Rome within the ten first years of his reign. 
Bonaparte soon after (April 1,) espoused the Arch-dutchess Ma- 
ria Louisa, eldest daughter of the Emperor of Austria. 

By a treaty of peace concluded at Paris, between Bonaparte 
and Charles XIII. of Sweden, this laiter prince regained posses- 
sion of Swedish Pomerania on condition of accedmg to the Con 



510 



CHAPTER XI. 



titiental system, though under certain modifications. Had Charles 
executed this engagement, his kingdom would have been ruined 
beyond resource. The part of the Hanoverian States belonging 
to the King of England which Bonaparte had still reserved in 
his own possession, was ceded by a treaty concluded at Paris 
(Jan. 14,) to his brother Jerome, to be incorporated with the 
kingdom of Westphalia. Besides the dutchy of Lauenberg, 
Bonaparte reserved to himself a landed revenue of four millions 
five hundred and fifty-nine thousand francs, for bestowing in 
legacies and endowments. 

Louis Bonaparte had reluctantly accepted the crown of Hol- 
land ; but from the moment he had placed it on his head, he de- 
voted himself to the interests of the country ; and resisted, as 
far as prudence would allow, the arbitrary orders of his brother, 
when he judged them prejudicial to the welfare of Holland. 
This gave rise to frequent broils, accompanied sometimes with 
threats. Bonaparte reproached the Dutch Government, more 
especially for not earnestly and rigorously enforcing the Con- 
tinental system, so pernicious to their commerce. At the be- 
ginning of the year ISIO, things had come to such a state, that 
it Avas expected Napoleon would cancel the kingdom of Holland 
from the list of European States. To avert this calamity, Louis 
signed a treaty at Paris (March 16,) by which a body of 12,000 
Dutch and 6000 French were to be stationed at the mouths oi 
all the rivers, to protect the French revenue-officers who were 
superintending the execution of Bonaparte's orders. Louis 
ceded to him Dutch Brabant, Zealand, and a part of Gueldres. 
of which the Waal was henceforth to form the frontier. In vain 
did that excellent man hope, by so great a sacrifice, to repur- 
chase the independence of his kingdom. Under pretext of cer- 
tain insults which the French agents had received at the hands 
of this exasperated people, Bonaparte sent a French army to 
occupy the whole country. Then Louis resigned a crown 
which he could no longer wear with honour ; he abdicated in 
favour of his son (July 3.) But Napoleon, indignant at a mea- 
sure on which he had not been consulted, annexed the kingdom 
of Holland to the French Empire, by a decree dated at Ram- 
bouillet (July 9.) 

Some months afterwards, the Republic of Valais, which, since 
the year 1802, had formed an independent State, was united to 
the iFrench Empire by a decree of Bonaparte (Nov. 12.) But 
the most important of his usurpations in 1810, and that which 
was instrumental in working his downfall, w«s the union of the 
Hanseatic countries situated on the coasts of the North Sea, viz. 
certain districts of Westphalia, and the Grand Dutchy of Berg 



PERIOD IX. A. D. 1S02— 1810. 511 

some possessions of the princes of Salm-Salm, and Salm-Kyr- 
burg, part of the dutchy of Oldenburg, the free cities of Brerien 
and Hamburg, as well as the city of Lubec and the dutchy of 
Lauenburg. By a decree of the Senate (Dec. 13,) these places 
were declared united to France ; the necessity of which Bona- 
parte had stated in a message addressed to these pliant and sub- 
missive bodies. 

France still retained possession of Guadaloupe, the Isle ol 
Bourbon, and the Mauritius. The year 1810, in which the 
greatness of Bonaparte in Europe reached its summit, deprived 
him of these possessions. General Beckwith and Admiral 
Cochrane, attacked and seized Guadaloupe. An expedition 
sent by Lord Minto, the English Governor-General in India 
and a thousand men from the Cape, reduced the Isle of Bour- 
bon (July 7,) and that of the Mauritius some months after. 

It will now be necessary to point out some of the modifica- 
tions which the Continental system underwent. The English 
had shown some disposition to put an end to that unnatural state 
of commerce which preceding measures had established. They 
first modified the Orders of 1807 regarding America; so that 
the Americans were permitted, under certain conditions, to carry 
on trade in all ports subject to French influence, which were 
not actually under blockade ; and the law of blockade was even 
restricted to the ports of Holland and France, and those of the 
northern part of Italy, between Pesaro and Orbitello. The 
clause in the decree of 11th November, relative to the payment 
of a compulsory duty in England, was abolished. 

A new era in the Continental system began with a decree ol 
Bonaparte (Aug. 7,) known by the name of The Decree or Tariff 
of Trianon. A second, by way of supplement, was issued 
from St. Cloud (Sept. 12.) Making a distinction between the 
trade and the produce of the colonies ; and availing himself o) 
the universal custom which had rendered the latter among the 
necessaries of life, he resolved to take advantage of this cir- 
cumstance to replenish his treasury, by permitting their impor- 
tation on paying an ad valorem duty of 50 per cent. A third 
decree, signed at Fontainbleau, ordered all English merchandise, 
found in France or her dependencies, to be seized and burnt. 
At that time, France, Switzerland, Italy, and Germany, were 
covered with bonfires, which destroyed the property of native 
merchants, and opened a new prospect for English manufactures 
one day to replace the articles that wore thus wantonly consumed. 
We shall now give a short outline of the most remarkable 
events that took place in the rest of Europe, during this period 
of French preponderance. 



512 CHAPTER XI. 

For more than six years Portugal, by means of the pecuniary 
sacrifices v/hich she had made to the French crown, had main- 
tauied her neutraUt)^ between France and England. But as she 
had betrayed her predilection for England during the Prussian 
war, her ruin was determined on ; and as she could no longer 
conceal from herself the danger of her position, the Prince Ke- 
peni entered into a strict alliance with Great Britain, by a con- 
vention signed at London (Oct. 22, 1807.) General Junot had 
uiken possession of the country after the Royal family had em- 
barked for Brazil ; and solemnly declared, that the House cf 
Braganza had ceased to reign in Europe (Feb. 1, 1808.) Fol- 
lowing the example of the Spaniards, the Portuguese soon shook 
off the yoke of the oppressor. The city of Oporto gave the first 
signal of insurrection (June 6 ;) an English army, commanded 
by Sir Arthur Wellesley, landed in Mondego Bay (July 31,) and 
defeated Junot at Vimeiro (Aug. 21.) The French General, 
whose army was reduced to a most distressing state, obtained 
from General Dalrymple, who had taken the command of the 
English troops, a capitulation on very honourable terms, which 
was concluded at Cintra (Aug. 30.) Junot, and his troops, were 
conveyed to France in English vessels. 

The Russian Admiral Siniawin was not so fortunate. He 
was then lying in the Tagus with a fleet of nine ships of the 
line, and a frigate, which had been employed in the war against 
the Turks in the Archipelago, and found himself under the ne- 
cessity of surrendering his fleet to Sir Charles Cotton the Eng- 
lish Admiral (Sept. 3,) which was not to be restored to the Em- 
peror until the conclusion of a pacific treaty between Russia and 
Great Britain. The convention of Cintra, of which the true 
circumstances are not well known, excited so great a discontent 
in England, that Sir Heu Dalrymple and Sir Arthur Wellesley 
were called home, that an investigation might be made into this 
unpopular measure. 

During their absence, and after the affair of Corunna, Soult 
received orders to attempt the conquest of Portugal, where there 
were not more than 8000 English troops, under the command of 
General Craddock, and an army of the natives. At the head of 
23,000 men he marched towards Chaves, and took possession of 
that place (March 7,) which is one of the frontier fortresses of 
the kingdom. But on his arrival at Oporto he encountered the 
Portuguese army, who for three days disputed with him the 
possession of the place. Here he remained a full month before 
he durst proceed on his march. Meantime General Wellesley 
had landed at Lisbon with a new English army. He manceu- 
vred so well that by the end of May, Soult was obliged to retire 



PERIOD IX. A. D. 1802—1810. 513 

into Galicia, with the loss of his artillery and baggage. NexJ 
yeai the French sent a third expedition to Portugal, but as this 
belongs more properly to the war in Spain, we shall take occa- 
sion to notice it afterwards. After the retreat of Soult, the Por- 
tuguese acted a considerable part in the liberation of Euroj)e 
General Wellesley, who was intrusted with very extensive 
powers, organized their army, and augmented it to 40,000 m'^n, 
wiih the assistance of 600,000^. Sterling, which England fur 
nished for that purpose. 

The connexion between Great Britain and Portugal, became 
stiU more intimate by the treaty of alliance which was conclu- 
ded at Rio Janeiro (Feb. 19, 1811.) George III. there promised 
never to recognise any King of Portugal but the heir and legiti- 
mate representative of the House of Braganza. The Regent 
granted Britain the right of building ships of war in Brazil, and 
of supplying themselves with timber for the purpose from the 
forests of that country ; and by abrogating certain former stipu- 
lations, he agreed to receive into his ports as many British ves- 
sels as chose to enter. The Regent likewise promised to co- 
operate with England for the abolition of the Slave Trade ; and 
this is the first example of a stipulation of the kind. Together 
with this treaty there was also concluded a treaty of commerce, 
Towards the end of 1810 Portugal became the theatre of war, 
as we shall observe when we come to speak of Spain. 

Charles IV. King of Spain, had flattered himself that by sub- 
>nitting to the payment of subsidies to France, according to the 
treaty of October 30, 1803, he would be exempted from the ne- 
cessity of taking part in the war which had broken out between 
Bonaparte and England ; and it was on the faith of this that 
the latter power had commenced hostilities. Four Spanish 
ships returning to Europe, loaded with treasures and valuable 
merchandise from South America, were seized off Cape St. 
Mary (Oct. 5, 1804,) by an English squadron. After that act 
of hostility, which, but for the negotiation that had preceded it, 
might have been regarded as a violation of the law of nations, 
Charles IV. declared war against England (Dec. 12 ;) and the 
following year he had the mortification to see his marine totally 
destroyed by the battle of Trafalgar, which Admiral Nelson 
gained over the combined fleets of Gravina and Villeneuve. 

In 1806 the English made an attempt to get possession of the 
Spanish colony of Buenos Ayres. The expedition sailed from 
St. Helena under the command of Admiral Sir Home Popham. 
The troops were commanded by General Beresford. Buenos 
Ayres capitulated on the 2d July ; there the English found m> 
mei-ous treasures which were transported to Europe ; but t.n 

3a 



514 CHAPTER XI. 

insurrection of the inhabitants, headed by a Spaniard named 
Pueridon, and Liniers a native of France, obliged General Beres- 
ford to surrender himself and his troops prisoners of war (Aug;. 
12. ^ Admiral Popham took possession of Maldonado (Oct. 29,} 
where he remained in expectation of the supplies which he ex- 
pected to come from England. General Auchmuty landed at 
Maldonado in the beginning of the following year, and took ihe 
town of Monte Video by assault (Feb. 2.) New reinforcements 
having arrived from England, General Whitelocke again attack- 
ed Buenos Ayres, and penetrated into the town (July 5 ;) but 
Liniers, at the head of the Spaniards, made so able a defence, 
that the English General signed a capitulation, by which he ob- 
tained the restitution of all British prisoners ; and the English 
promised to evacuate Monte Video within the space of two 
months. 

Charles IV. and his minister, during the war with Prussia, 
had shown a desire to shake off the yoke of Bonaparte. By 
signing at Fontainbleau the partition of Portugal, they opened 
a way for the French armies into Spain, who took possession of 
St. Sebastian, Pampeluna, Figueras, and Barcelona ; and were 
even masters of Madrid while one part of the Spanish army 
were occupied in Portugal, and the other in Denmark. The con- 
sequences of these imprudences were, the overturning of Spain, 
and the dethronement of the House of Bourbon, as we have 
noticed above. 

When the Spaniards rose in rebellion against the royal intru- 
der, they formed themselves into Juntas, or directorial commit- 
tees, in every province. That of Seville, which was composed 
of enterprising men, took the lead in the insurrection, declared 
war against Bonaparte in the name of Ferdinand VII., and con- 
cluded an armistice with England. Their authority was not 
acknowledged by the Provincial Juntas, each of which had set 
on foot an army of their own. All these armies engaged the 
French troops wherever they met them, and were very often 
vanquished. The insurrection did not come to a head till after 
the battle of Baylen (July 20, 1808,) where 14,000 French 
troops, under Generals Dupont and Vidai, laid down their arms. 
Castanos, to whom this success was owing, was then appointed 
Generalissimo ; and the Junta organized a Regency, at the head 
of which they placed the old Cardinal de Bourbon. There were 
two other events which greatly encouraged the Spaniards; the 
one was the expulsion of Le Febvre from Saragossa by General 
Palafox, and the other the arrival of the Marquis de la Romana 
at Corunna with 7000 men, who had been conveyed to the is- 
land of Funen for invading Sweden, but had embarked, m <«pile 
of the French, to come to the assistance of their country 



PERIOD IX. A. D. 1802—1810. 515 

Joseph Bonaparte having abandoned Madrid and retired to 
Burgos (Aug. 1,) a Central Junta was established at Aranjuez. 
This Junta raised three armies : that of the North, under Blake 
and Romana ; that of the Centre, under Castanos ; and that of 
Arragon, under Palafox. Immediately after the interview at 
Erfurt, Bonaparte placed himself at the head of his army, which 
had been increased to 180,000 men ; and after gaining several 
advantages over the enemy, he sent back his brother Joseph to 
Madrid. Meantime, two divisions of the English army having 
arrived, the one from Lisbon, and the other from Corunna, they 
formed a junction in the province of Leon, under the command 
of Sir John Moore. Bonaparte marched against them, but they 
thought it prudent to retire. Having arrived at Astorga, he re- 
ceived intelligence of the preparations of the Austrians, when 
he set out for Paris, leaving the command of the army to Soult, 
who obliged the English to embark at Corunna, after a severe 
engagement in which Sir John Moore lost his life. A treaty of 
peace and alliance was signed at London between England and 
the Supreme Junta, acting in the name of Ferdinand VII. (Jan. 
14, 1809.) England sent into Portugal a new army, under the 
command of Sir A. Wellesley. The second siege of Saragossa, 
which was undertaken first by Junot, and continued by Lannes, 
vas one of the most extraordinary events in modern war. The 
garrison, commanded by Palafox, and the inhabitants of the place 
who were completely devoted to him, performed prodigies of 
valour. When the French took the city (Feb. 21,) it presented 
nothing but a mass of ruins. It was calculated that above 100,000 
men perished in that siege. 

Marshal Victor defeated Cuesta at Medellin (March 28,) and 
Suchet defeated General Blake at Belchite (June 16 :) but Soult, 
«vho had penetrated into Portugal, was repulsed by Wellesley; 
who fought the bloody battle of Talavera with Marshals Jourdan 
and Victor, which turned to the disadvantage of the French. 
The misconduct of the army of Cuesta, which had been con- 
joined with that of Wellesley in this battle, determined the latter 
henceforth to carry on a defensive war with the English and 
Portuguese alone ; and to leave to the Spaniards the care of 
occupying the French, by harassing their troops incessantly, 
destroying their convoys and magazines, and surprising their 
entrenchments. The battle of Ocana (Nov. 19,) which Cuesta 
fought with General Mortier and lost, was the last pitched bat- 
tle which the Spaniards fought. From that time they confined 
themselves to a Guerilla warfare, by which they did infinite 
damage to the enemy 

In 1809, the Central Junta retired to Seville. Towards the 



516 CHAPTER XI. 

end of the year, they were replaced by an Executive Directory 
of nine members ; and next year these were superseded in their 
turn by a Regency of five members, which was established at 
Cadiz. An assembly of the Cortes was summoned to meet 
there, the members of which were nominated, not by the clergy, 
the nobility, and the cities, which composed the legitimate States 
of Spain, but by the great body of the inhabitants. That assem- 
bly, who could do no more for the defence of their country, em- 
ployed themselves in establishing a democratic constitution in 
Spain, destroying by degrees all the institutions of the monarchy. 

Soult, who was commander-in-chief of the army of the South, 
conquered the whole of Andalusia in 1810, with the exception 
of Cadiz, which Victor had in vain attempted to besiege. The 
principal efforts of the French were then turned towards Portu- 
gal ; and on this occasion Massena was ordered to undertake 
the reduction of that country, at the head of 70,000 men. Junot 
laid siege to Ciudad Rodrigo, which surrendered after a vigorous 
defence (July 10.) Almeida was likewise obliged to capitulate 
a few weeks after (August 27.) These conquests were made, 
without any apparent wish on the part of the English commander, 
recently created Lord Wellington, to prevent them. He had 
then begun to carry into execution the plan of defensive warfare 
which he had conceived after the battle of Talavera. In the 
spring he was stationed on the Coa, and began to retreat after 
the fall of Ciudad Rodrigo ; nor did he stop till he had reached 
Torres Vedras. Four months were employed in effecting this 
slow tetrograde march. Massena followed him every step, suf- 
fering from continual fatigue and daily skirmishes ; and strug- 
gling against famine, as the English army had destroyed every 
thing that lay in their way. Towards the end of October, Lord 
Wellington took up an impregnable position, where for four 
months the French General found all his manoeuvres unsuccess- 
ful Lord Wellington took advantage of this interval to secure 
considerable reinforcements which arrived from Lisbon. He was 
thus prepared to fall upon his adversary, when the impossibility 
of subsisting longer in an exhausted country should at length 
compel him to retreat. 

When giving a summary of the history of France, we spoke 
of the renewal of hostilities between Bonaparte and Great Britain 
in 1803, as well as of the part which the latter took in the Con- 
tinental wars of 1805, 1807, and 1809. The efforts which she 
had made to support these expenses, added a frightful increase 
to her national debt ; but the constantly increasing progress of 
her commerce furnished her with the means of meeting this 
enormous expenditure In vain had Bonanarte expected to rain 



FERior IX. A. D. 1S02— 1810. 517 

the industry of England by the Continental system. In the 
Flench, Spanish, and Dutch colonies which she conquered, she 
found new channels to supply the place of those which were 
shut against her on the Continent of Europe. The Empire of 
the sea still remained in the possession of the British; and. in 
1807, they annihilated the marine of Denmark, the only king- 
dom which then retained any maritime power. But of this cir- 
cumstance we shall speak hereafter. 

The year 1806 is remarkable for the abolition of the slave 
trade in the English colonies. Since 1785, the Blacks had found 
zealous advocates in the British Parliament, amongst whom Fox, 
Wilberforce, and Pitt, were the most distinguished. But the 
British Government, too sagacious to enter precipitately into a 
measure which might endanger the fortune of the planters, and 
even the tranquillity of the colonies, wished first to consult ex- 
perience on the subject, and to leave the proprietors time to pre- 
pare themselves for a different order of things. For twenty 
years they had refused to adopt the bill which Mr. Wilberforce 
regularly laid before the Parliament, to demand restrictive laws 
against the trade. It was not until Mr. Fox and Lord Grenville 
entered into the ministry, that this question occupied their serious 
deliberations. An Act of Parliament, ratified by the King (May 
16, 1806,) forbade the exportation of slaves from the English 
colonies, and conveying them into foreign colonies. A Bill of 
the 6th February 1807, which was ratified by the King on the 
17th March following, enacted, that the slave trade should ac- 
tually cease from the date of May 1st ensuing ; providing, how- 
ever, that vessels already departed rn the trade should be allowed 
to import slaves into the West Indies until the 1st January 1808 

Of all the countries which were brought under the yoke of 
Napoleon, the most unfortunate without dispute was Holland. 
Her commerce, the only resource of her numerous inhabitants, 
was annihilated by the Continental system ; her finances were 
in such a state of disorder, that, in spite of all their economy, 
the annual deficit was regularly about twenty millions of flo- 
rins : her inhabitants were harassed as much by the soldiers of 
Bonaparte as by his revenue officers ; and as if nature, in con- 
cert with political oppression, had conspired her ruin, her soil 
was laid waste, and her industry destroyed by periodical inun 
dations, fires, and other calamities. Such is the picture which 
that wretched country presented up to the moment when Bona- 
parte extinguished the feeble remains of independence which it 
enjoyed. After various alterations, that Republic obtained a 
constitution similar to that which had existed in France since 
1804. M. Schimmelpennink was placed at the head of the go 



518 CHAPTER XI. 

vemment (April 1805,) under the title of Grand Pensionary, 
and vested with such powers as the last Stadtholders had never 
exercised, even after the revolution of 1788. We have already 
observed how this power, together with the Royal title, were 
rendered hereditary in favour of Louis Bonaparte ; and how 
the Dutch monarchy vanished at the fiat of Napoleon. 

Switzerland, with the exception of some partial commotions 
which are scarcely worthy of remark, had remained tranquil 
under the system of government which Bonaparte had pre- 
scribed in the act of mediation (Feb. 19, 1803.) The Conti- 
nental System, and the prohibition laid on the greater part ol 
Swiss commodities in France, paralyzed their industry and 
their commer(;e ; and caused many of the inhabitants to emi 
grate, who for the most part directed their course towards North 
America. A treaty which General Ney ha<l signed at Friburg 
(Sept. 27,) regulated the connections between France and the 
Helvetic Confederation, in a manner more advantageous for that 
country than in the time of the Directory. Bonaparte was sa- 
tisfied with a defensive alliance ; but the Swiss agreed to im- 
port from the mines of France their stock of salt, which they 
had till then been in the habit of receiving partly from Bavaria 
This stock amounted to two hundred thousand quintals per an 
num ; and the revenue which France derived from furnishing 
this article, was sufficient to support more than 20,000 troops. 
At the same time a military capitulation wa?- signed, by which 
Bonaparte took into his service sixteen thousand Swiss volun- 
teers. It must appear astonishing, that in this nation of war- 
riors, a sufficient number could not be found to make up the 
complement of 16,000 men. The incomplete state of the Swiss 
regiments was a subject of perpetual complaint with Bonaparte. 

The number of the Italian States had been perpetually di- 
minishing ; and about the time of which we now speak, that 
peninsula was entirely subjected to the influence of Bonaparte, 
and divided nominally between France, Naples, and the kingdom 
of Italy ; excepting the small Republic of St. Marino, which 
preserved its independence in the midst of the general convulsion. 
The Italian Republic, which since the year 1805 had borne the 
title of the kingdom of Italy, was oppressed by the enormous 
load of contributions which were exacted for the support of the 
French troops, as well as by payments for the civil list of the 
King and his viceroy. That country submitted with great im- 
patience to the law of the military conscription, which was con- 
•;rary to the feelings and customs of the inhabitants. It obtained 
considerable aggrandizements after the peace of Presburg by 
llie union of the Venetian provinces in 1807, and by that of th*- 



PERIOD IX. A. D. 1802—1810. 519 

four provinces of the Ecclesiastical States ; but these accessions 
made no addition to its happiness. Eugene Beauharnais, dig- 
nified with the title of Prince of Venice, was proclaimed heir 
to the throne of Italy, failing the male descendants of Bonaparte. 

The kingdom of Naples was overthrown about the beginning 
of 1806. Ferdinand IV., had retired to Sicily, and Joseph Bo- 
naparte was put in his place ; but he had occupied that unstable 
throne only two years, when he exchanged it for another still 
more insecure. But before surrendering the kingdom of Naples 
to Joachim Murat who was appointed his successor (June 28, 
1808,) he wished to immortalize his nam by giving a new con- 
stitution to that kingdom, which was guaranteed by Bonaparte. 
The attempts which Murat made to conquer Sicily proved 
abortive. 

Germany had experienced two complete revolutions in course 
of the nine years of which we have given a short summary 
The constitution of the Germanic Empire was changed in se- 
veral essential respects by the Resolutions of the Deputation of 
Ratisbon. Of all the ecclesiastical princes that belonged to the 
Germanic body, one only was retained, viz. the Elector, Arch- 
Chancellor, who took the place of the ancient Elector of May- 
ence ; the Grand Master of the Teutonic Knights, was secu- 
larized. The territories of the rest, as well as the revenues of 
all ecclesiastical endowments, mediate or immediate, were em- 
ployed either to indemnify the hereditary princes who had lost 
the whole or a part of their estates on the left bank of the Rhine, 
or to aggrandize those whom the policy of Bonaparte chose 
to favour. In place of the two Ecclesiastical Electors who 
were suppressed, four lay Electors were appointed, one of whom 
only was a Catholic, that of Saltzburg, who had formerly been 
the Grand Duke of Tuscany, and three were Protestants, those 
of Wurtemberg, Baden, and Hesse-Cassel. 

The House of Orange obtained the bishopric of Fulda and 
other territories ; Brisgauand Ortenau were ceded to the Duke of 
Modena, who left them at his death to his son-in-law the Arch- 
duke Ferdinand. The relation between the two religions was 
still more unequal in the College of Princes, where the Pro- 
testants had acquired so great a superiority that the head of the 
Empire refused to ratify that article of the Resolutions. The 
free cities were reduced to six, viz. Augsburg, Lubec, Nurem- 
berg, Frankfort, Bremen, and Hamburg. The immediate nobi- 
lity were retained ; but those of them who were entitled to 
indemnity were disappointed, as nothing remained to be distri- 
buted. In place of the existing duties payable on the Rhine, 
a rate of navigation was established, the proceeds of which 



520 CHAPTER XI 

were to be divided between France and Germany ; a part of the 
endowment of the Arch-Chancellor was founded on that revenue. 

The execution of the Resolutions of the Deputation, gave rise 
to several conventions among the States of the Empire, as well 
as to a great variety of claims. So many difficulties had arisen 
on this occasion, especially from the refusal of the Emperor to 
sanction the Resolution, without certain modifications, that the 
Empire was abolished before this new fundamental law could 
be carried into practice in all its bearings. The peace of Pres- 
burg had created two new Kings in the centre of Germany, 
namely, the Electors of Bavaria and Wurtemberg, who had as- 
sumed that dignity. These two princes, with the Elector of 
Baden, were declared sovereigns, and obtained territorial addi- 
tions at the expense of Austria, the Knights of St. John of Jeru- 
salem, and the city of Augsburg. The King of Bavaria annex- 
ed that free city to his Estates. The Elector of Saltzburg ex- 
changed all that the Resolutions of the Imperial Deputation had 
given him for the principality of Wurtzburg which was taken 
from the King of Bavaria, to which the Electoral title was 
transferred. The Grand Mastership of the Teutonic Knights 
was secularized in favour of a prince of the House of Austria. 
The heir of the Duke of Modena lost Brisgau, and Ortenau, 
which fell to the Elector of Baden. 

The annihilation of the German Empire, the germ of which 
is to be found in that treaty, was effected by the Confederation 
of the Rhine, which the Kings of Bavaria and Wurtemberg, the 
Arch-Chancellor, the Elector of Baden, the Dukes of Cleves and 
Berg, the Landgrave of Hesse-Darmstadt, the Princes of Hohen- 
zollern, Salm, Isemburg, Lichtenstein and Aremberg, and Count 
Leyen, concluded with Bonaparte (July 6, 1806,) who was 
named Protector of the Leagtie, as they announced in their de- 
clarations to the Diet. The act by which the Emperor Francis 
II. abdicated the crown of Germany (Aug. 6,) completed the dis- 
solution of the Germanic body. The princes who had joined 
that confederation usurped the sovereignty, instead of the mere 
superiority which they had formerly enjoyed under the authori- 
ty of the Empire. By overthrowing the barriers which the laws 
and institutions of the country, the most ancient customs, and 
conventions, had opposed to the encroachments of absolute 
power, they set a fatal example of trampling under foot the well 
acquired rights of their people. They carried their injustice 
still farther. They usurped dominion over the princes, pro- 
vinces, and cities, their associates and coequals, who were un 
fortunately placed in their neighbourhood ; and who had not 
been apprized in time that they might repair to Paris, in ordei 



PERIOD IX. A. D. 1802—1810. 521 

to co-operate in that transaction, or counteract th" intrigues by 
which it was accomplished. 

The Elector Arch-Chancellor then assumed the dignity of 
Prince Primate ; the Elector of Baden, the Dukes of Berg and 
Cleves, and the Landgrave of Hesse-Darmstadt took the title of 
Grand Dukes ; to which the act of the 12th July attached the 
prerogatives of the royal dignity. The head of the house of 
Nassau took the dignity of Duke, and Count Leyen that of 
Prince. A federal Diet, divided into two chambers, was to de- 
liberate on the general interests of the union ; but that assembly 
never met. Of the six free cities which the Deputation had 
preserved, the King of Bavaria had Augsburg adjudged to him 
by the peace of Presburg ; he afterwards obtained Nuremberg 
by an act of the Confederation. Frankfort fell to the share of 
the Prince Primate ; so that there remained only three of the 
Hanseatic towns. 

Several other princes entered successively into the Confedera- 
tion of the Rhine ; but none of these accessions were voluntary. 
They all took place in consequence of the war with Prussia, 
which broke out in October 1806. These princes, taken accord- 
ing to the order of accession, were the following: — The Elector 
of Wurtzburg, the old Elector of Saltzburg, who took the grand 
ducal title, the King of Saxony, the Dukes of Saxony, the Houses 
of Anhalt and Schvvartzburg, the Prince of Waldeck, the Houses 
of Lippe and Reuss, the King of Westphalia, the House of 
Mecklenburg, and the Duke of Oldenburg. Thus all Germany, 
with a few exceptions, entered in succession into that Confede- 
ration. 

Several other changes occurred in the Rhenish Confedera- 
tion, especially after the peace of Schoenbrunn. The grand 
dutchy of Berg received considerable accessions. The kingdom 
of Westphalia was augmented in 1810, b)-- the union of the States 
of the King of England in Germany, with the exception of the 
dutchy of Lunenburg, as has been already mentioned. Within 
a short time after he had disposed of the territory of Hanover, 
Bonaparte formed the grand dutchy of Frankfort, by adding the 
district of Fulda, and the greater part of the county of Hanau, 
to the possessions of the Prince Primate ; with the deduction of 
the principality of Ratisbon, on condition that after the death of 
the Prince Primate, who had assumed the title of the Grand 
Duke of Frankfort, these territories should pass to Eugene Beau- 
harnais and his male descendants ; and failing these, they should 
revert to the Crown of France. The Grand Duke ceded to 
Napoleon the principality of Ratisbon, and his moiety of the 
navigation-dues on the Rhine. 



522 CHAPTEK XT. 

The Elector of Bavaria had lost by the peace of Lunevflle 
that part of the Palatinate situated on the left bank of the Ehine, 
with the dutchy of Deux-ponts. The Deputation of 1S03 de- 
prived him of the rest of the Palatinate ; but that act amply 
compensated him, by making over to him the bishoprics of 
Bamberg, Wurtzburg, Freisingen, Passau, and Augsburg, with 
several abbeys and free citie?. By the peace of Presburg, Bo- 
naparte took Wurtzburg from him ; but he gave him in lieu of 
it a considerable part of the spoils of Austria, especially the 
county of Tyrol, which contained more than 700,000 inhabitants. 
To recompense that monarch for the zeal which he had displayed 
1809, Bonaparte put him in possession of the principalities of 
Baireuth and Ratisbon, the dutchy of Saltzburg, with Berch- 
tolsgaden, and the part of Lower Austria which the Emperor 
had renounced by the peace of Schoenbrunn. In return, the 
King of Bavaria ceded back a part of the Tyrol, containing about 
305,000 souls, which was annexed either to the kingdom of 
Italy or the Illyrian provinces. 

By the peace of Luneville, the Austrian monarchy had lost, 
in point of extent and population ; but she had gained an addi- 
tion of six millions of francs to her revenue. The government 
had to struggle incessantly against the ruinous state of the ex- 
chequer, and the over-circulation of paper money. Neither loans 
nor economy could recover them. The embarrassed state of his 
finances was still more increased by the disastrous war of 1805. 
The peace of Presburg cost the Emperor the States that formerly 
belonged to the Venetians, the Tyrol, and all the possessions of 
his House in Swabia. He acquired nothing by that treaty, ex- 
cept the dutchy of Saltzburg and Berchtolsgaden. His losses 
amounted to more than a thousand German square miles of ter- 
ritory, and nearly three millions of subjects. The following 
year (Aug. 6, 1806,) he voluntarily laid aside the Imperial crown 
of Germany, adopting instead, the hereditary Imperial crown of 
Austria, with the name of Francis I. Besides Saltsburg and 
Berchtolsgaden, the ci-devant Grand Duke of Tuscany lost also 
Passau and Eichstett ; but he obtained the principality of Wurtz- 
burg. The Archduke Ferdinand was deprived of Brisgau and 
Ortenau. 

At the commencement of the year 1807, Austria had made 
warlike preparations which indicated that, but for the precipi- 
tancy with which the peace of Tilsit had been concluded, she 
would have made a powerful diversion on the rear of the French 
army. It was not till the convention of Fontainbleau that she 
obtained the restitution of Braunau, which had remained in the 
possession of the French, and which she purchased by new ter 



FERIOD IX. A. D. 1802—1810. 523 

ntorial losses on the side of Italy ; from that moment the Arch- 
duke Charles made great exertions for re-organizing the army, 
introducing- a new order and a better discipline, forming bodies 
of militia, and repairing fortresses. He continued to inspire the 
nation with an enthusiasm which it had never before displayed. 
Many wealthy individuals made large pecuniary sacrifices for 
the service of their country. 

The peace of Schoenbrunn, which terminated the war of 1809, 
brought Austria down to the rank of the third Continental 
power. That monarchy comprehended a surface of 9471 Ger- 
man square miles, and a population of twenty-one millions ; but 
her commerce was annihilated by the loss of Trieste and Fiume, 
which separated her from the sea. The immense quantity of 
paper money in the ceded provinces, flowed back into the interior 
of the kingdom, and reduced the currency of these bills to one- 
tifth of their nominal value. 

Prussia, by the Resolutions of the Deputation of 1803, gained 
426,000 subjects, and more than four millions of francs to her 
revenue ; and the provinces Avhich she acquired, established, to 
a certain extent, the continuity of her Westphalian possessions 
with the centre of the kingdom. A convention with the Elector 
of Bavaria respecting an exchange of territory, made consider- 
able additions to the Principalities in Franconia. The King, 
from that time, occupied himself in applying the remedy of a 
wise administration to repair the calamities which wars and 
levies had inflicted on the country. In vain had they tried every 
means of persuasion to make him join the third coalition ; and 
it was only the violation of his territory by the French troops, 
that at last prevailed with him to take that step. We have al- 
ready spoken of the convention at Potsdam, by which he engag- 
ed eventually to become a party to that confederacy, and of the 
attempt which he made to restore peace by means of negotiation. 
We have already mentioned how he became involuntarily, and 
by the turn which his minister gave to the affair with which he 
was intrusted, the ally of him whom he wished to engage in 
war. Prussia obtained, by the treaty of Vienna, the precarious 
possession of the Electorate of Hanover, in lieu of which she 
ceded Anspach, Cleves, and Neufchatel The superficial extent 
of the whole monarchy amounted then to 5746 German square 
miles, with a population of 10,658,000 souls. 

The occupation of Hanover dragged Prussia into a war with 
England ; and the course pursued towards her by Bonaparte 
soon compelled her to declare war against France. He had 
offered the Electorate of Hanover to the King of England, and 
opposed Prussia in the project of associating Saxony, Hesse, 



524 CHAPTER XI. 

and the Hanseatic towns, in the confederation which Frederic 
wished to oppose to that of the Rhine. The convention of Vienna 
thus became the occasion of inflicting new calamities on Prussia. 
Frederic William renounced the territory of Hanover, by the 
peace which he concluded with George III. at Memel (Jan. 2S. 
1807 ;) but the treaty of Tilsit cost the former the half of his 
German estates, viz. an extent of 2657 German square miles, 
and a population of 4,670,000 souls. This sacrifice was not 
sufficient to appease the resentment of Bonaparte. By misin- 
terpreting the equivocal terms of the convention of Koningsberg. 
he restored to the King only a part of his provinces on the east 
of the Vistula, which were desolated by the war, and reduced 
almost to a desert. After sixteen months of peace, he could not 
obtain repossession of his other provinces, until he engaged lo 
pay 120,000,000 of francs, to leave three fortresses in the hands 
of Bonaparte by way of pledge, and to promise never to keep 
more than 40,000 men in the field. 

Prussia was in a state of the greatest destitution, at the time 
when Frederic William turned his attention to the administra- 
tion of the country. The army had devoured the substance of 
the inhabitants ; the population had suffered a great diminution ; 
while sickness and a complication of miseries, were continually 
cutting them off in considerable numbers. The King submitted 
to many privations, to fulfil the obligations he had contracted 
towards France, and thereby to obtain the final evacuation of the 
kingdom, as well as to relieve those provinces which had suf- 
fered more severely than others by the sojourn of the French 
army. He did every thing in his power to revive agriculture 
and industry among his subjects, and restore the resources of 
the army ; and thus prepare the way for recovering the rank 
which the Prussian monarchy had formerly held. 

Independently of the hardships which Bonaparte inflicted on 
Prussia, by protracting the stay of his army, and by the contri- 
butions which he imposed on her, this country was made the vic- 
tim of a rapacity which is, perhaps, unprecedented in history 
By a convention which the King of Saxony, as Duke of War- 
saw, concluded with Bonaparte (May 10, 1808,) while occupied 
at Bayonne in overtr rning the Spanish monarchy, the latter 
ceded to him, for a sum of twenty millions of francs, not only 
the pecuniary claims of the King of Prussia over his Polish 
subjects, (for these he had abandoned by the peace of Tilsit,) 
but also those of certain public establishments in Prussia, such 
as the Bank, the Society for Maritime Commerce, the Endow- 
ment for Widows, Hospitals, Pious Foundations, Universities 
and Schools ; and what may seem incredible, those of private 



PERIOD IX. A. D. 1802—1810. 525 

individuals in Prussia over Polish subjects. The pecuniary 
claims were so much the more considerable, as the capitalists of 
the ancient provinces, since the introduction of the system of 
mortgage into Prussia, had advanced large sums to Polish pro- 
prietors for the improvement of their patrimonies. The sums 
thus taken from those who had furnished them, and transfeired 
to the King of Saxony, were estimated at first at forty-three 
millions and a half of francs, and four millions of interest ; but 
the financial authorities of the dutchy of Warsaw, discovered 
that they amounted to sixty-eight millions. In vain did Fre- 
deric William offer to repurchase this pretended right of the 
King of Saxony, by reimbursing the twenty millions of francs 
which the latter had been obliged, it was said, to give to Bona- 
parte. The Revolution of 1814 rectified this piece of injustice, 
as it did many others. 

During this period the north of Europe was agitated by three 
difTerent wars, that of England against Denmark, which occa- 
sioned a rupture between the Cabinets of St. Petersburg and 
London ; that of Russia against Sweden, in which Denmark 
was involved ; and lastly, the war between Russia and the 
Porte, in which England took an active part. 

The expedition of the English against the Isle of Zealand in 
1807, was an event which was censured at the time with great 
severity ; and which cannot be justified, since it is the nature 
of all preventive war to destroy the very arguments and evi- 
dences of its necessity. Nevertheless, if on the one hand, we 
consider what was requisite to support the interests of Bona- 
parte after the peace of Tilsit, or more properly speaking, to 
carry into execution the system he had organized ; and if on 
'.he other, we examine into his conduct a short time after, to- 
wards Spain and Portugal, we shall find England not wholly 
without excuse. The peace of Tilsit had excluded British com- 
merce from all the southern ports of the Baltic, and she na 
turally wished that Sweden, and especially Denmark, who had 
a communication with the Continent by way of Jutland, should 
open their ports to her. Several appearances indicated that it 
was the intention of Bonaparte to seize Denmark also after the 
peace of Tilsit ; and the British minister declared that he was 
in possession of proofs of a plan to that effect. 

The British Government accordingly fitted out an expedition 
for the purpose of preventing his designs, with an activity and 
a celerity such as they had never displayed in sending aid to 
their allies; and that difference in their conduct tended not a 
little to create an unfavourable opinion as to the enterprise 
•vhich they undertook against Denmark in 1807. An English 



526 CHAPTER XI. 

jfleet, having an army on board, to which a Hanoverian legion 
of 7000 men then in the Isle of Eugen, viras afterwards added, 
sailed from England about the endof July or beginning of August. 
It was divided into two squadrons, one of which, under Commo- 
dore Keats, took up their station in the Great Belt, which till then 
had been thought inaccessible to ships of war, and thus cut oft 
the Isle of Zealand from the main land, where the Prince Royal 
with the Danish army then was. The second division, under 
the command of Admiral Gambler, with troops on board com- 
manded by Lord Cathcart, arrived off Copenhagen. Mr. Jack- 
son was sent to Kiel to demand from the Prince Royal the 
surrender of the Danish fleet, which they alleged it was the in- 
tention of Bonaparte to seize. 

After a fruitless negotiation, Copenhagen, after being invested 
by the army of Lord Cathcart on the land side, was bombarded 
for three days (Sept. 2, 3, 4.) and a great part of the city de- 
stroyed. At length General Peymann, the Commander-in-chief 
of the Danish forces, demanded an armistice to treat for a ca- 
pitulation. Sir Arthur Wellesley, the same officer who soon 
after so distinguished himself in Portugal, signed that capitula- 
tion on the part of Great Britain. The citadel was given up 
to the English. The Danes surrendered their fleet, with all 
the naval stores in their arsenals and dock-yards. The Eng- 
lish stipulated for a delay of six weeks to prepare for departure, 
after which they promised to surrender the citadel, and evacuate 
the Isle of Zealand. 

In this manner the Danish marine, consisting of eighteen 
ships of the line, fifteen frigates, six brigs, and twenty-five sloops 
of war, fell into the hands of the English. During the six 
weeks stipulated for, the Court of London oflfered Denmark the 
alternative either of returning to a state of neutrality, or of form- 
ing an alliance with England. The Prince Regent having re- 
fused both of these, England declared war against him (Nov. 
4 ;) but she did not violate the capitulation of Copenhagen, as 
the evacuation of that city and the island of Zealand took place 
at the term specified. This event added Denmark to the French 
system. Her minister concluded a treaty of alliance at Fon- 
tainbleau, the tenor of which has not been made public ; but if 
we may judge by the events which followed, it was agreed that 
the Danish islands should be occupied by French troops des- 
tined to act against Sweden. In the month of March 1808, 
32,000 French, Dutch, and Spanish troops (the last brought 
from the kingdom of Etruria,) under the command of Marshal 
Bernadotte, arrived in Zealand, Funen, and the other islands of 
the Baltic ; but the defection of the Spanish troops, and the 



PERIOD IX. A. D. 1802—1810. 527 

war with Austria, prevented the projected invasion of Sweden 
The English took possession of the colonies of Denmark, and 
ru;ned the commerce of her subjects. Frederic VI., who had 
succeeded his father Christian VII., (March 13, 1808,) after 
having been at the head of the government as regent since 1784, 
strictly executed the Continental .system ; especially after the 
commencement of the year 1810, when the two Counts Bern- 
storflT had retired from the ministry. He even went so far as to 
arrest all the English subjects found in Denmark. 

The expedition of the English against Copenhagen, induced 
the Emperor Alexander to declare war against them (Nov. 7.) 
That monarch entered decidedly into the Continental system, 
and demanded of the King of Sweden, that agreeably to the 
conventions as to the armed neutrality of the North, he should 
enforce the principle by which the Baltic was declared a shut 
sea. The King of Sweden replied, that the principles establish- 
ed by the conventions of 1780 and 1800 had been abandoned by 
that of June 17, 1801 ; that circumstances were entirely changed 
since Denmark, on whose co-operations he had formerly reck- 
oned, had lost her fleet ; and since, independently of the Sound, 
the English had effected another entrance into the Baltic, through 
the Great Belt ; these objections, however, did not prevent him 
from mcurring a ruinous war. 

A Russian army entered Finland (Feb. 21, 1808.) General 
Buxhowden, who had the command, announced to the inhabi- 
tants of that province that the Emperor Alexander had thought 
it necessary to occupy that country, in order to have a pledge 
that the King of Sweden would accept the proposals of peace 
which France had made to him. Although the Swedish troops 
in Finland were but few in number, and defended it bravely, 
they were compelled to yield to the superior force of the Rus- 
sians, and to retire into East Bothnia. Sueaborg, the bulwark 
of Finland, and deemed impregnable, surrendered (April 6,) 
after a siege of a few days by Vice-Admiral Kronstadt. A mani- 
festo of the Emperor Alexander (March 28,) had already decla- 
red the grand dutchy of Finland to be incorporated with his Em- 
pire. This unexpected attack excited the most lively indignation 
in Gustavus IV., who so far forgot himself, as to cause M. d'Alo- 
peus, the Russian minister at his court, to be arrested. Den- 
mark having also declared war against him (Feb. 29,) a Swedish 
army of 20,000 men, under the command of Gen. Armfield, un- 
dertook the conquest of Norway. But this expedition was repuls- 
ed with loss ; and the Danes even made incursions into Sweden. 

Field-Marshal Count Klinspor being placed at the head of the 
Swedish army, then at Uleaburg began to act on the offensive 



528 CHAPTER XI, 

in the north of Finland ; while a second army, under the com 
mand of General Vegesack, disembarked at Abo (June 8. The 
war was carried on with variable success, but with equal bra- 
very on both sides. At the end of the campaign, the Russians 
were again masters of Finland. A body of 10,000 English 
troops, commanded by the same General Moore who, a few 
months after, fell at Corunna in Spain, had arrived in the roads 
at Gottenburg (May 17 ;) but as the Swedish King could not 
come to an agreement as to the employment of these auxiliaries, 
nor even as to the command, he refused to permit the troops to 
disembark. He even ordered General Moore, who had repaired 
to Stockholm, to be arrested. But having soon found means to 
escape, Moore returned to England with his troops. Mr. Thorn- 
ton, the British envoy, who had remonstrated against this arbi- 
trary conduct of the King, was recalled. 

Admiral Chanikoff, with a Russian fleet of twenty-four ships 
of war, made an attempt to burn the Swedish fleet, commanded 
by Admiral Nauckhoff, in Virgin Bay (Aug. 18 ;) but the ar- 
rival of an English fleet under Sir James Saumarez in Baltic 
Port where Nauckhoff' was, with a reinforcement of some Eng- 
lish ships under the command of Admiral Hood, kept th-m in 
blockade for nearly two months. In Finland an armistice nad 
been concluded, (Sept. 1808,) on the footing of the Uti Posside- 
tis ; but the Emperor Alexander refused to ratify it. Another 
was then concluded at Olkioki (Nov. 19,) by which the Swedish 
army engaged to evacuate Uleaburg, and to retire behind the 
Kemi. Towards the end of the year, the English Cabinet ad- 
vised the King of Sweden to make peace, which he obstinately 
refused, and even demanded additional supplies to continue the 
war with vigom The British Cabinet having declined to grant 
them unconditionally, Gustavus was on the point of coming to 
an open rupture with that Court. But his indignation having 
abated, he agreed, soon after, to conclude a new convention at 
Stockholm (March 1, 1809.) when Great Britain engaged to pay 
in advance 300,000Z, sterling by quarterly instalments. 

Meantime a revolution was fermenting in Sweden, which was 
to change the aspect of affairs. The haughtiness and obstinacy 
of the King, had created him many enemies. The people were 
oppressed in a most extraordinary manner by burdens and im- 
posts, which Gustavus increased arbitrarily, and without regard 
to constitutional forms. The severity with which he punished 
the troops, not only when they had committed faults, but even 
when they were unauccessful, had alienated the minds of the 
soldiers from him, and especially the guards. A conspiracy 
was formed, at the head of which was Lieutenant-Colonel Adler- 



PERIOD IX. A. D. 1802 — 1810. 529 

sparre, and Colonel Skioldebrand, and which was joined by the 
army of the West, or of Norway, and the troops that were sta- 
tioned in the Islands of Aland. Adlersparre and the army of 
the West marched on Stockholm. They had arrived at Orebro, 
when Field-Marshal Klinspor, who had been disgraced, advised 
the King to avert the storm by changing his conduct. On his 
refusal. General Adlercreutz arrested him in the name of the 
people (March 13.) The Duke of Sudermania, the King's un- 
cle, was proclaimed Regent. Gustavus was conveyed to Drott- 
ningholm, and thence to Gripsholm, where he signed a deed of 
abdication, which he afterwards declared on various occasions to 
have been voluntary. The revolution was terminated without 
commotion and without bloodshed. 

The Regent immediately assembled the Diet at Stockholm, 
Not content with accepting the abdication of Gustavus, such as 
he had given it, they excluded all his descendants from the 
throne of Sweden. They offered the crown to the Regent, who 
declared his willingness to accept it when they had revised the 
constitution. This revision, by which the royal authority was 
limited ,\yithout reducing it to a state of humiliation and depen- 
dence,! .laving been adopted by the Diet, the Duke of Suderma- 
nia was proclaimed King (June 5, 1809,) under the title of 
Charles XIII. according to the common but erroneous method 
of reckoning the Kings of Sweden. As the new monarch had 
no family, they elected as his successor to the throne. Prince 
Christian Augustus of Holstein-Augustenburg, who commanded 
the Danish army in Norway, and who had procured the esteem 
even of his enemies. Gustavus and his family were permitted 
to leave the kingdom ; and towards the end of the year a new 
.'"andamental law was published, regulating the order of succes- 
sion to the throne. 

At Stockholm the people flattered themselves that the de- 
thronement of Gustavus would speedily bring peace to Sweden ; 
bnt it was not so. Alexander I. refused to treat with a govern- 
ment so insecure as a regency, and hostilities accordingly con- 
tinued. General Knorring who had passed the Gulf of Bothnia 
on the ice with 25,000 Russians, took possession of the Islands 
of Aland (March 17,) when the Swedish troops stationed there 
retired to the continent of Sweden. Knorring granted the 
Swedes a cessation of hostilities, to allow them time to make 
overtures of peace. Apprized of this arrangement. Count Bar- 
clay de Tolly, who had crossed the Gulf with another body of 
Russians on the side of Vasa, and taken possession of Umea, 
evacuated West Bothnia, and returned to Finland. A third 
body of Russians, imder the command of Schouvaloff, penetrated 

34 



530 CHAPTER r:. 

into West Bothnia by the route of Tornea. and compelled the 
Swedish army of the North, which was commanded by Gripen- 
berg, to lay down their arms at Seiwis (March 25.) This san- 
guinary affair occurred entirely through ignorance ; because hi 
that country, lying under the 66th degree of north latitude, they 
were not aware of the armistice granted by Knorring. On the 
expiration of the truce, hostilities recommenced in the month of 
May, and the Russians took possession of the part of West 
Bothnia lying to the north of Umea. 

The peace between Russia and Sweden was signed at Fre- 
dericsham (Sept. 17.) The latter power adhered to the Con- 
tinental system, reserving to herself the importation of salt and 
such colonial produce as she could not do without. She sur- 
rendered Finland with the whole of East Bothnia, and a part of 
West Bothnia lying to the eastward of the river Tornea. The 
cession of these provinces which formed the granary of Sweden, 
and contained a population of 900,000 souls, was an irreparable 
loss to that kingdom, which had only 2,344,000 inhabitants left. 
The peace of Fredericsham was speedily followed by that of 
Jonkoping with Denmark (Dec. 10,) and that at Paris with France 
(Jan. 6, 1810.) By the first, every thing was re-established on 
Its ancient footing between these two States. But by the peace 
of Paris, Sweden renounced the importation of colonial produce, 
and only reserved the privilege of importing salt as an article 
of absolute necessity. It was on this condition alone that she 
could obtain repossession of Pomerania. 

The Prince Royal of Sweden having died suddenly, a Diet 
assembled at Orebro, and elected John Baptiste Julius Berna- 
dotte. Prince of Ponte Corvo, his successor to the throne (May 
28.) The election was unanimous ; but out of more than one 
thousand of the nobility who had a right to appear at the Diet, 
only one hundred and forty were present. Bernadotte accepted 
an offer so honourable. On his arrival at Elsinore, he professed, 
as his ancestors had done before him in France, his adherence 
to the Confession of Augsburg, which was then the established 
religion in Sweden. King Charles XIII. having adopted him 
as his son, he was proclaimed at Stockholm (Nov. 5,) eventual 
successor to the throne, under the name of Charles John. 
Twelve days afterwards, Sweden declared war against Great 
Britain. 

In Russia, the Emperor Alexander, since his accession to the 
throne, had occupied himself incessantly in improving every 
oranch of the administration. The restrictive regulations Avbich 
had been published under the last reign were abrogated ; by 
gradual concessions, the peasantry were prepared for a liberty 



PERIOD IX. A. D. 1802 1810. 



531 



which they had not yet enjoyed. The number of universities, 
and what is still more essential to civilization, the number of 
schools was augmented. The senate, the ministry, and the 
civil authorities were reorganized, and new improvements 
adopted, tending to abolish arbitrary power, to accelerate the 
despatch of business, and to promote the distribution of fair 
and impartial justice to all classes of society. Canals were 
dug, new avenues were opened for industry, and commerce 
flourished, especially the trade of the Black Sea. The only 
point in which the Government failed, was in its attempts to re- 
store the finances ; but the four wars of the preceding seven 
years in which Russia had been engaged, rendered these at- 
tempts unavailing. 

We have already related the origin, events, and termination 
of two of these wars, viz. that of 1806, which ended with the 
peace of Tilsit, and procured Russia the province of Bialystock ; 
and that of Sweden, which annexed the province of Finland to 
that Empire. The war against England continued after the 
peace of Fredericsham, but without furnishing any events of 
great importance. The two other wars were those against Per- 
sia and the Porte. At the beginning of his reign, Alexander 
had annexed Georgia to his Empire, which had till then been 
the prey of continual disturbances. This accession drew him 
into a war with Persia, which did not terminate till 1813. The 
principal events of that war were the defeat of the Persians at 
Etschmiazin, by Prince Zizianoff (.Tune 20, 1804;) the conquest 
of the province of Shirvan by the same Prince (Jan. 1806 ;) 
the taking of Derbent by the Russians (July 3 ;) and the defeat 
of the Persians by Paulucci, at Alkolwalaki, (Sept. 1, 1810.) 

Before speaking of the war between Russia and the Porte, it 
will be necessary to take a brief retrospect of the Ottoman Em- 
pire. The condition of that Empire, badly organized and worse 
governed, was such, that every thing then presaged its ap- 
proaching dissolution ; or in other words, the expulsion of the 
Turks from Europe. Every where the authority of the Grand 
Seignor was disregarded. Paswan Oglou, the Pacha of Wid- 
din, was in open revolt. Ali Pacha of Janina was obedient 
only when it suited his convenience. The Servians had taken 
up arms under their leader Czerni George, and threatened to 
possess themselves of Sabacz and Belgrade. Djezzar, the 
Pacha of Syria, without declaring himself an enemy to the 
Porte, enjoyed an absolute independence. The sect of the Wa- 
habites was in possession of Arabia. Egypt was distracted by 
civil wars. Selim III., who had reigned there since 1789, con- 
vinced that the Porte could never re-establish its authority ex- 



532 CHAPTER XI. 

cept by better organizing the army, had endeavoured to model 
it on the European system. This attempt afterwards cost him 
his throne. 

Such was the situation of the Ottoman Empire, when Bona 
parte, in order to prevent Alexander from sending supplies to 
Prussia, resolved to embroil him in a quarrel with the Porte. 
General Sebastiani, the French Envoy at Constantinople, con- 
trived to obtain so great an inflnence over the minds of the 
Divan, that for some time it was entirely under his direction. 
Subjects of dissension were not wanting between Russia and 
the Porte ; and these were of such a nature, as to furnish each 
party with plausible reasons for complaining of the infraction ol 
treaties. The French minister was not slow to fan the spark of 
discord. He even induced the Divan to refuse to renew their 
treaty of alliance with England, which was then on the point of 
expiring. The Emperor Alexander, foreseeing that there would 
be no redress to his complaints, gave orders to General Michel- 
son to enter Moldavia and Wallachia. The Porte then declared 
war against Russia (Dec. 30 ;) but deviating for the first time 
from a barbarous custom, he allowed M. d'ltalinski, the Russian 
minister, to depart unmolested. 

A few days after, Mr. Arbuthnot, the English minister, quit- 
ted Constantinople, after having repeatedly demanded the re- 
newal of the alliance, and the expulsion of M. Sebastiani. 
Within a few weeks an English fleet of nine ships of the line, 
three frigates, and several fire-ships, commanded by Vice-Admi- 
ral Duckworth, forced the passage of the Dardanelles, and ap- 
peared before Constantinople. Duckworth demanded of the 
Divan, that the forts of the Dardanelles and the Turkish fleet 
should be surrendered to him ; that the Porte should cede Mol- 
davia and Wallachia to Russia, and break ofT alliance with Bo- 
naparte. But instead of profiting by the sudden panic which 
his appearance had created, he allowed the Turks time to put 
themselves in a posture of defence. Encouraged and instructed 
by Sebastiani, they made their preparations with such energy 
and success, that in the course of eight days the English Vice- 
admiral found that he could do nothing better than weigh an- 
chor and repass the Dardanelles. On his arrival at Malta, he 
took on board 5000 troops, under the command of General Fia- 
ser, and conveyed them to Egypt. The English took posses- 
sion of Alexandria (Mar. 20;) but in the course of six months, 
they found themselves obliged to surrender that city by capitu- 
lation to the Governor of Egypt. 

The campaign of 1807 was not productive of any very deci- 
sive result, as Gsneral Michelson had received orders to detach 



PERIOD IX. A. D. 1802 — 1810. 533 

80,000 men to oppose the French in Poland. Czerni George, 
the leader of the revolted Servians, took Belgrade, Sabacz, and 
Nissa, penetrated into Bulgaria, where he was reinforced by some 
Russian troops, and gained divers signal advantages. General 
Michelson himself v/as victorious near Guirdesov (March 17,) 
without, however, being able to get possession of that place. The 
war was conducted with more success on the frontiers of the two 
Empires in Asia. The Seraskier of Erzerum was entirely de- 
feated by General Gudovitch (June 18;) and that victory was 
an event so much the more fortunate, as it prevented the Persians 
from making a bold diversion in favour of the Turks. The most 
important event in the campaign was the naval battle of Lemnos, 
where the Russian fleet, under the command of Vice-admiral 
Siniawin, defeated the Capitan Pacha, who had sailed from the 
Dardanelles after the retreat of Duckworth. 

When the Ottoman navy sustained this defeat, Selim III. had 
ceased to reign. That prince had rendered himself odious to 
the troops, by the introduction of the European discipline and 
dress, known by the name of Nizami gedid, and by his connexion 
with the French Emperor. One circumstance, regarded as a fun- 
damental law, and accord*ing to which a Sultan who had reigned 
seven years without having any children was regarded as un- 
worthy of the throne, served as a pretext for the military to have 
him deposed. Selim, finding it impossible to quell or allay the 
revolt, abdicated voluntarily (May 29,) and placed his cousin, 
Mustapha IV., on the throne. In the amnesty which that prince 
published, he recognised the right of the Janissaries to withdraw 
their allegiance from the Grand Seignor who should depart from 
the established customs, and that of appointing his successor. 

The Emperor Alexander had promised, by the peace of Tilsit, 
to evacuate Moldavia and Wallachia, on condition, however, that 
the Turks should not occupy these two provinces till after the 
conclusion of a definitive peace. The French General Guille- 
minot was sent to the Turkish camp to negotiate an armistice 
on these terms, which in effect was signed at Slobozia (Aug. 24.) 
The evacuation of the two provinces stipulated by that arrange- 
ment never took place, as the Emperor of Russia refused to ratify 
the treaty, as it contained certain articles which he judged in- 
compatible with his dignity ; so that matters remained on their 
former footing. That circumstance was one of the pretexts 
which Bonaparte alleged for continuing to occupy Prussia. 

In the midst of these political quibblings, the time arrived 
when a new system of things took place. The Cabinets of St. 
Petersburg and Paris were making mutual advances ; and it is 
probable that the fate of the Porte, and especially of the pro- 



534 CHAPTER XI. 

vinces beyond the Danube, was one of the subjects which were 
discussed during the interview at Erfurt, France lost her influ- 
ence at Constantinople, when they saw her enter into an alliance 
with Russia ; and from that time England directed the politics 
of the Divan. 

Mustapha IV, had in the mean time been hurled from the 
throne, Mustapha, styled Bairactar or the Standardbearer, 
the Pacha of Rudschuk, a man of extraordinary courage, and 
one of the most zealous abettors of the changes introduced by 
Selim, which he regarded as the sole means of preserving the 
State, had marched with 35,000 men to Constantinople, with 
the view of reforming or seizing the government, and announced 
to Mustapha IV. (July 28, 1808,) that he must resign, and make 
way for the ancient and legitimate Sultan, Mustapha thought 
to save his crown by putting Selim to death ; but Bairactar 
proclaimed Mahmoud, the younger brother of Mustapha, who 
was then shut up in the Seraglio, Bairactar, invested with abso- 
lute power, re-established the corps of the Seimens, or disciplined 
troops on the footing of the Europeans, and took vigorous mea- 
sures for putting the Empire in a condition to resist the Russians, 
These patriotic efforts cost him his life. After the departure of 
a part of the Seimens for the army, the Janissaries and the in- 
habitants of Constantinople revolted. At the head of a body of 
newly organized troops, Mustapha defended himself with cou- 
rage ; but seeing the moment approach when he must yield to 
the superior number of his assailants, he put to death the old 
Sultan and his mother, whose intrigues had instigated the insur- 
rection. He retired to a fortress or strong place, where he had 
deposited a quantity of gunpowder. The Janissaries having 
pursued him thither, he set fire to the magazine, and blew him- 
self and his persecutors into the air. The young Sultan Mahmoud 
had the courage to declare that he would retain the European 
discipline and dress ; but after being attacked in his place, and 
learning that the city was filled with carnage and conflagration, 
he yielded to necessity, and restored the privileges of the Janis- 
saries. It is probable they would not have spared his life, but for 
the circumstance that he was the last scion of the race of Osman. 

The ministers of the Divan, whom General Sebastiani had 
gained over to the interests of France, finding themselves entirely 
discarded by the last revolution, Mr, Adair, the new English 
minister at Constantinople, concluded a treaty of peace (Jan. 5, 
1809,) by which the Porte confirmed to England the commercial 
advantages which the treaty of 1675 had granted them, as well 
as the navigation of the Black Sea, which Mr. Spencei Smith 
had obtained (August 3, 1799.) 



PERIOD IX. A. D. 1802—1810. 535 

Immediately after the return of the Emperor Alexander from 
Erfurt, an order was given to open negotiations with the Turks. 
The conference took place at Jassy ; but it was immediately 
broken off, after the Russian plenipotentiaries had demanded, as 
preliminary conditions, the cession of Moldavia and Wallachia, 
and the expulsion of the British minister from Constantinople. 
Hostilities then recommenced. The Russians were commanded 
by Prince Prosoroffski, and after his death, by Prince Bagration. 
Having passed the Danube, they took possession of Ismael, and 
fought abloody battle at Tar taritza, near Silistria (Sept. 26,) which 
compelled them to raise the siege of that place. The Grand 
Vizier, without taking advantage of his good fortune, retired to 
winter-quarters. 

The campaign of 1810 was more decisive. General Kamen- 
skoi, the second of that name, had taken the chief command of 
the Russian army ; his brother of the same name, and General 
Markoft", opened it by the taking of Bazardjik (June 4;) the cap- 
ture of Silistria (June 11,) by the Commander-in-chief and Count 
Langeron, opened the way to Shumla, where the Grand Vizier, 
YussufT Pacha, occupied a strong position ; while General Sa- 
banieff defeated a body of Turkish troops near Rasgard (June 
14,) the remains of which were obliged to surrender. The Grand 
Vizier then demanded an armistice for negotiating a peace. The 
reply was, that it would be concluded immediately on his recog- 
nising the Danube as the limit of the two Empires, and promising 
to pay a sum of twenty millions of piastres ; the Russians re- 
maining in possession of Bessarabia until it was paid. The 
Grand Vizier, at the instigation of the British minister, rejected 
these conditions. Yussuff Pacha still occupied his camp near 
Shumla, the rear of which was protected by the Hemus. Ka- 
menskoi the elder, attacked him in his entrenchments, but was 
repulsed with loss (June 23 ;) he left his brother at Kargali Dere 
(about five leagues from Shumla) at the head of a corps of ob- 
servation, while he attempted himself to take Rudschuk by main 
force, but was again repulsed. The younger brother then found 
himself obliged, by the approach of a superior force, to abandon 
his position at Kargali Dere (Aug. 15.) Yussufl!' being deter- 
mined to save Rudschuk, detached Mouhtar Pacha with a body 
of 40,000 troops, who took up a formidable position at the place 
where the Jantra runs into the Danube. Kamenskoi leaving to 
Count Langeron the care of the siege of Rudschuk, and ordering 
Sass to invest Guirdesov, which is situated on the other side of 
the Danube opposite Rudschuk, immediately directed his march 
against Mouhtar, and attacked him in his entrenchments at 
Batine. After a terrible carnage, the Russians took possession 



536 CHAPTER XII. 

of the Turkish camp by main force (Sept. 7,) tvhen Mouhtar 
escaped with a small detachment. Within a few days after, 
Count St. Priest took Sczistov, with the whole Turkish fleet. 
Rudschuk and Guirdesov surrendered on the same day (Sept. 
27,) and Nicopoli and Widdin in a short time after ; so that by 
the end of the campaign the Russians were masters of the whole 
right bank of the Danube. The Grand Vizier had continued 
all this time in his strong camp at Shumla. The Servians, as- 
sisted by a body of Russians, had taken possession of the last 
fortresses in their country which the Turks had still maintained, 
such as Cladova, Oreava, and Praova. 



CHAPTER XII. 

PERIOD IX. 



The decline and downfall of the Empire of Bonaparte. — a. d 

1810—1815. 

The power of Napoleon had now attained its greatest height. 
The birth of a son, an event, which happened March 20, 1811, 
might have given stability to this power, had he known how to 
set bounds to his ambition. The heir to the Imperial throne 
received the title of King of Rome, a dignity which had been 
decreed in anticipation. 

The differences that had arisen between Bonaparte and the 
Head of the Church, became this year a subject of public dis- 
cussion. The will of a despot whom no power could resist, w^as 
made to recoil more than once before the inflexible firmness of 
an old man, disarmed and in captivity. Ever since Bonaparte 
had deprived the Church of her patrimony, and had been laid 
under the ban of excommunication, Pius VII., faithful to his 
principles, had refused confirmation to every bishop nominated 
by a man who was excluded from the Catholic communion 
Bonaparte thought it might be possible to dispense with the 
confirmation of the Pope. With this view, he assembled a na- 
tional council at Paris (June 17, 1811,) composed of French and 
Italian bishops, and in which Cardinal Fesch, the Archbishop 
of Lyons, presided. He soon found, however, that despotic au- 
thority was of little avail against religious opinions. The pre- 
lates, on whose compliance he had calculated with too much 
confidence, declared that the Council had no power to grant that 



PERIOD IX. A. D. ISIO— 1S15. 537 

cunfirmation which was refused by the Pope ; but the arrest of 
three of the most refractory prelates, who were imprisoned at 
Vinceimes (July 12,) having given rise to a negotiation, the rest 
adopted a modified scheme which the government had commu- 
nicated to them ; on condition, however, that it should be sub- 
mitted for the approbation of the Pope. But his Holiness, who 
had still remained at Savona, refused to treat with the Council, 
which he declared null and void, as having been convened with- 
out his authority. The project of Bonaparte thus completely 
failed ; the Council was dismissed ; and twenty of the Sees of 
France and Italj'- were left without bishops. 

Before proceeding to detail the grand events which overturned 
the dominion of Bonaparte, it will be necessary to advert to what 
took place in Spain and Portugal in 1811 and 1812. Sickness, 
and the want of provisions, had at length compelled Massena to 
effect his retreat (March 1,) during which he sustained con- 
siderable loss by the pursuit of Lord Wellington. Thus, for 
the third time, was Portugal released from the invasion of the 
French army. It would be impossible, within the narrow limits 
to which we are here confined, to detail the various marches and 
counter-marches of the Generals, or the operations in which they 
were engaged. We can only point out the principal actions in 
a detached and cursory manner. 

Marshal Soult retook Badajos (March 10,) while Lord Wel- 
lington still retained his position at Torres Vedras, Avhich he had 
quitted with reluctance to go in pursuit of Massena. As the 
possession of that place was of importance for the English, Lord 
Wellington determined to besiege it ; but Marshal Marmont 
who had replaced Massena in the command of the army of the 
North, and Marshal Soult who had formed a junction with him, 
obliged him to discontinue the siege. He retired to Portugal, 
where he remained on the defensive during the rest of the cam- 
paign. The advantages of the campaign of 1811 belonged to 
General Suchet. After a destructive siege, he took Tortosa by 
capitulation (Jan. 1,) and Tarragona by main force (June 28.) 
He made himself master of Monteserrat in the same manner. 
(Aug. 19.) By a signal victory which he gained over General 
Blake (Oct. 25,) at Murviedro, the ancient Saguntum, he pre- 
pared the way for the conquest of Valencia, which surrendered 
by capitulation (Jan. 9, 1812.) 

At the commencement of 1812, the French forces in Spain 
amounted to 150,000 men. The allies consisted of 52,000 Eng- 
lish troops, 24,000 Portuguese, and 100,000 Spaniards, including 
20,000 guerillas. Lord Wellington reduced Ciudad Rodrigo 
(Jan. 19,) and then retired once more mto Portugal, where he 



538 CHAPTER XII. 

kept on the defensive for nearly five months. He then attacked 
Salamanca, took that city (June 28,) and defeated Marmont in 
the famous battle of Areopiles, near Salamanca (July 21,) where 
Clausel saved the French army from a complete rout. Joseph 
Bonaparte quitted Madrid. Soult gave orders to raise the siege 
of Cadiz, which had continued for two years. He evacuated 
Andalusia, and joined King Joseph in Murcia. "Wellington, 
now master of Burgos, was desirous to get possession also Oi 
the citadel of that place, the acquisition of which was necessary 
for his safety. But Souham, who had succeeded Marmont, and 
Soult having approached on both sides to save the town, the 
British General retired again into Portugal, and Joseph Bona- 
parte returned to Madrid (Nov. 1.) 

At this time the North of Europe had been the theatre ot 
great events. For some time, the friendship between the Courts 
of St. Petersburg and St. Cloud had been growing cool. The 
last usurpations of Bonaparte, during the course of 1810, brought 
about a complete rupture. The extension of the French Empire 
towards the Baltic, was becoming a subject of suspicion and 
anxiety to Alexander. The manner in which Bonaparte had 
taken possession of the dutchy of Oldenburg, the patrimony of 
his family, was an outrage against his person. The first symp- 
tom of discontent which he exhibited, was by abandoning the 
Continental system, although indirectly, by an Ukase (Dec. 13, 
1810,) which permitted the importation of colonial produce, 
while it interdicted that of France, wine only excepted. Under 
pretext of organizing a force for the maintenance of these regu- 
lations, he raised an army of 90,000 men. A rupture with Bo- 
naparte appeared then unavoidable. 

In Sweden also there arose new subjects of quarrel. Bona- 
parte complained, that in that country the Continental system had 
not been put in execution with sufficient rigour. He demanded, 
that Charles XIII. should put two thousand sailors into his pay ; 
that he should introduce the Tariff' of Trianon, and admit French 
revenue-officers at Gottenburg. In short, Sweden, Denmark, 
and the dutchy of Warsaw, were to form a confederation, under 
the protection of France. During these discussions. Marshal 
Davoust, who commanded in the north of Germany, took pos- 
session of Swedish Pomerania and the Isle of Rugen (Jan. 27, 
1812.) Bonaparte offered, however, to surrender that province 
to Sweden, and to compel Alexander to restore Finland to her, 
if Charles XIII. would agree to furnish 30,000 troops against 
Russia. 

Sweden, on the contrary, was on terms of conciliation with 
that power. By an alliance, which was signed at St. Petersburg 



PERIOD IX. A. D. 1810—1815. 539 

(April 5,) Alexander promised to procure her Norway. A body 
of between twenty-five and thirty thousand Swedes, and be- 
tween fifteen and twenty thousand Russians, were then to make a 
diversion against France on the coasts of Germany. This 
arrangement was afterwards changed ; in a conference which 
the Emperor had at Abo (Aug. 30,) the latter consented that the 
Russian troops, destined to act in Norway, should be transported 
to Riga for the defence of Russia; and that they should not, till 
a later period, undertake the conquest of Norway. Charles XIII. 
was also reconciled to England, while he had always pretended 
to be ignorant of the declaration of war of November 17, 1810. 
A treaty of peace was signed at Orebro (July 12,) where they 
agreed, though in general terms, on a defensive alliance. 

Bonaparte, seeing the moment approach when a rupture with 
Russia would take place, hesitated for some time as to the part 
he should take with regard to Prussia, in the very centre of 
which he still possessed three fortresses. He determined at last 
to preserve that State, and to make an ally of it, on which the 
principal burden of the war should fall. Four conventions were 
concluded at Paris, on the same day (Feb. 24,) between these 
two powers. By the principal treaty, an alliance purely defen- 
sive was established ; but according to certain secret articles, 
that alliance was declared offensive ; on such terms, however, 
that Prussiaiwas not to furnish any contingent beyond the Py- 
renees in Italy, or against the Turks. By the first convention, 
which was likewise to be kept secret, the alliance was expressly 
directed against Russia ; and the King of Prussia promised to 
furnish a body of 20,000 auxiliary troops. Glogau, Stettin, and 
Custrin, were to be still occupied by the French. The two other 
conventions related to the sums still due by Prussia, and the sup- 
plies which she had to furnish. 

A few days after, there was also signed at Paris a defensive 
alliance against Russia, between Austria and France. The recip- 
rocal supplies to be furnished by each, was 30,000 men ; and the 
Court of Vienna was given to hope, that she might again be re- 
stored to the possession of the Illyrian Provinces. From that mo- 
ment, Bonaparte began to make the most active preparations. By 
a decree of the Senate, the whole male population of France, be- 
tween the ages of twenty and sixty years, was divided into three 
Bans, or bodies summoned by proclamation ; the first of these 
contained 100,000 men, to be placed at the disposal of the govern- 
ment. The princes of the confederation were to furnish their con- 
tingent as follows : — Bavaria 30,000 troops, Westphalia and 
Saxony each 20,000, Wurtemberg 14,000, and the kingdom of 
Italy 40,000. Negotiations were at that time in progress between 



510 CHAPTER XII. 

Bonaparte and Alexander, apparently with a view of adjuitmg 
their mutual complaints. But matters had recently taken a 
turn, which left little reason to hope that they would come to 
any satisfactory result. These conferences were continued at 
Dresden where Bonaparte had gone, and where he met the Em- 
peror and Empress of Austria, the King of Prussia, and a great 
number of the princes of the Rhenish Confederation. This 
was the last moment of Bonaparte's greatness. He waited the 
return of Count Narbonne, whom he had sent to Wilna with 
his last proposals to the Emperor Alexander. Immediately af- 
ter the arrival of the Count, war v/as declared (June 12, 1812.) 

The army of Bonaparte amounted to 587,000 men, of which 
73,000 were cavalry. It was separated into three grand divi- 
sions ; the main army was composed of the divisions of Da- 
voust, Oudinot, and Ney. It contained also the troops of Wur- 
temberg, at the head of whom was the Prince Royal. The 
second army, commanded by Eugene Beauharnais, consisted of 
the divisions of Junot and St. Cyr ; the Bavarians, under the 
command of Deroy and Wrede, made a part of it. The third 
army, commanded by Jerome Bonaparte, consisted of the Poles, 
under Prince Poniatowski, the Saxons, under Regnier, and the 
Westphalians under Vandamme. The Austrian auxiliaries, at 
the head of whom was Prince Schwartzenberg, formed the ex- 
treme right wing. The corps of Marshal Macdonald and the 
Prussians, were placed on the extreme left. To oppose this 
immense mass, Alexander had only 260,000 men, divided into 
two armies, which were called the first and second armies of 
the West. The former, under the command of Count Barclay 
de Tolly, extended as far as Grodno, and communicated on the 
north side with Count d'Essen, Governor of Riga ; and on the 
south, with the second army of the West, at the head of which 
was Prince Bagration. But independently of these forces, 
there were bodies of reserve, and armies of observation, formed 
with all expedition, and ultimately joined with the main armies. 

Of the great number of battles fought during this memorable 
campaign, we must content ourselves with selecting the more 
important ; without entering into a detail of the various move- 
ments of either party. The inferiority of numbers which Alex- 
ander had to oppose to Bonaparte, seemed to render a defensive 
plan advisable, according to which, by destroying all the means 
of subsistence in the districts which they abandoned, they might 
allure the enemy into countries desolated and destitute of every 
resource. Bonaparte allowed himself to be duped by feint re- 
treats ; his scheme was to place himself between the two Rus- 
sian armies, and after having destroyed both, to penetrate into 



PERIOD IX. A. D. ISIO— 1S15. 541 

the interior of the Empire, Avhere he reckoned on finding im- 
mense riches, and to dictate the terms of peace, as he had twice 
done at Vienna. 

The passage of the Niemen, by the French army, was the 
commencement of hostilities (June 22 ;) the Russians immedi- 
ately began their system of retreat. Bonaparte, at first, suc- 
ceeded in penetrating between the two armies ; but after several 
battles fought by Prince Bagration, more especially that at 
MohilofT (July 23,) the two armies effected a junction at Smo- 
lensko. Jerome Bonaparte and Vandamme, to whom B.onaparte 
attributed that check, were ordered to quit the French army, 
while he himself advanced as far as Witepsk. 

Bonaparte engaged Barclay de Tolly, and fought a bloody 
battle with him at Smolensko (Aug. 17.) He took possession 
of that city by force, after it had been set on fire by the inhabit- 
ants. He found no provisions in it, and scarcely a shelter to 
cover his sick and wounded. On the news of the progress 
which the French w-ere making, a general enthu-siasm seized 
the Russian nation. Alexander had encouraged and excited 
this patriotic spirit by repairing to Moscow. The nobles armed 
their peasantry, and prepared to fight with desperation to the 
last. The two armies of the "West were combined into one, 
of which Prince Kutusoff took the command. He engaged 
Bonaparte, and fought the famous battle of Moskwa, about 
twenty-five leagues from Moscow (Sept. 7.) Ahhough 65,000 
men, including Russians, French, and allies, were left dead on 
the field of battle, that action was by no means decisive ; but 
Kutusoff, whose army was reduced to 70,000 men, while Bona- 
parte, out of 150,000, had still 120,000 left, resolved to continue 
his retreat, and to leave Moscow at the mercy of the enemy. 
The French entered that place seven days after the battle (Sept. 
14.) They found that ancient capital entirely abandoned, but 
still containing immense wealth which the inhabitants had not 
been able to carry with them. Within two days, a conflagra- 
tion which broke out in five hundred places at once, reduced 
that immense city to a heap of ashes. The precautions of the 
incendiaries had been so well taken, that all the efforts of the 
French to arrest the progress of the flames proved ineffectual ; 
and out of 9158 houses, they could only save 2041. Thus 
perished irrevocably the means of subsistence, which had for a 
moment revived the courage of the invaders. 

In a short time famine began to make its appearance in the 
army of Bonaparte. Dissembling the real state of his affairs, 
he twice offered peace. Alexander refused to treat at a time 
when the war was only on the eve of commencing ; and told 



542 CHAPTER XII. 

the Russian general*, that he Avas still resolved to continue his 
retreat, which commenced accordingly on the 15th October. 
Marshal Mortier, who commanded the rear-guard, had orders to 
set fire to the Kremlin, the palace of the ancient Czars of Rus- 
sia. Bonaparte directed his march towards Smolensko, through 
a country reduced to an entire desert. He was incessantly 
harassed by the Russians, whose troops, marching at a conve- 
nient distance, attacked both his flanks. On arriving at Smo- 
lensko (Nov. 9,) after having lost 40,000 men, the army was 
assailed by the rigours of winter, which added to their other 
misfortunes. KutusofF having advanced before them, and tak- 
ing post at Krasnoi, they were obliged to force a passage with 
the loss of 13,000 men, and 70 pieces of cannon. Two days 
after, 11,000 men of Ney's division, laid down their arms ; 
3-5,000 men, and twenty-five cannons without horses, were all 
that remained to the conqueror of Moscow. 

This exhausted and dispirited army had 50 leagues to march, 
before they could reach the Beresina, where other dangers 
awaited them. The passage of that river was occupied by the 
army of TchichagofF, amounting to 50,000 men, who had arrived 
from Moldavia. Another Russian army, under Count Witgen- 
stein, was marching from the north to join the former ; but 
Marshal Victor's body of reserve, which had arrived from Prus- 
sia, intercepted them for a while, without having been able to 
prevent their final junction. Victor, Oudinot, and Dombrowski, 
brought a reinforcement to Bonaparte of 35,000 men, exhaust- 
ed with cold and famine. The passage of the Beresina was 
forced with admirable bravery (Nov. 27-28 ;) but it cost France 
or the allies, the lives or the liberty of more than 30,000 men. 

At this point, the main body of the Russians ceased to pursue 
the unfortunate wreck of Bonaparte's army ; nevertheless, as 
far as Wilna, they were continually harassed by the Cossacs. 
There was besides a frightful deficiency of provisions and 
clothing, so that upwards of 25,000 men fell a sacrifice to these 
privations in their route to Wilna. This was the first city oi 
town that fell in their way ; all the others had been completely 
destroyed J the miserable remnant who reached that place (Dec. 
9,) were at length supplied with provisions ; but the Cossacs 
did not leave them long in the enjoyment of repose. On the 
following day they were obliged to commence their retreat to 
Kowno, from which they directed their march towards the Vis- 
tula. Independently of the corps of Macdonald, who had the 
Prussians under his command, and of the auxiliary body of 
Austrians and Saxons, none of which took any part in that 
route, only 18,800 French and Italians, and about 23,000 Poles 
and Germans, found their way back from Russia. 



PERIOD IX. A. D. 1810—1815. 543 

Bonaparte himself had taken his departure privately on the 
5th December, leaving the command of the army to Murat. 
Wiih such despatch had he consulted his safety, that on the 18th 
of the same month he arrived at Paris. 

Prince Schwartzenberg, being joined by General Reynier who 
commanded the Saxons, had fought several engagements w^ith 
the army of Tchichagoff", none of which had proved decisive ; 
and after the aflfair of the Beresina he had retired towards War- 
saw and Pultusk. Several most sanguinary engagements, 
although not more decisive than the former, had taken place 
between Count Witgenstein and the left wing of the French 
army ; especially towards the commencement of the campaign, 
when Marshals Oudinot and St. Cyr had joined Macdonald. 
On these occasions, the Prussians had rendered very important 
services ; but the moment General Yorke, who commanded 
these auxiliaries, had been informed of the retreat of Bonaparte, 
he thought himself authorized, not from any political motives 
which he would never have avowed, but from the destitute con- 
dition in which he had been left, to conclude a capitulation with 
the Russians, by which he withdrew his whole forces from the 
French army (Dec. 29.) 

That event was of little importance in itself, although it pro- 
duced a very great sensation in Prussia, and served as a pretext 
for Bonaparte to demand new levies, without being obliged to 
acknowledge the whole extent of the losses he had sustained. 
One of his ministers, Regnault d'Angely, spoke of the event, in 
his official report, as the Glorious Retreat of Moscow I More- 
over, a decree of the Senate, issued at the commencement of the 
following j-^ear (Jan. 11,) placed a new conscription of 350,000 
men at the disposal of the government. In order to raise the 
necessary funds for this new armament, Bonaparte seized the 
revenues of all the commimes in France ; their properties were 
sold to promote his schemes ; and he promised to make them 
ample reimbursements, by assigning to them annuities on the 
civil list. 

Nothing annoyed Bonaparte so much as the incessant resis- 
tance and opposition of Pope Pius VII. In the hope of gaining 
a more easy victory, by bringing that respectable old man nearer 
his person, he had ordered him to be conveyed to the Palace of 
Fontainbleau, about the middle of the year 1812. After his re- 
turn from Moscow, he repaired thither himself, and succeeded 
in extorting the Pope's consent to a new Concordat ; on condi- 
tion, however, that the stipulations should be kept secret, until 
they Avere examined by a Consistory of Cardinals. But Bona- 
parte took an early opportunity of publishing this new Concor- 



544 CHAPTER XII. 

clal, as a fundamental law of the State — a circumstance which 
induced Pius VII. to disavow it, and to declare it null and of 
none effect. 

Meantime, a new and tonnidable league was preparing against 
Bonaparte. After the campaign of 1812, the King of Prussia 
had demanded, agreeably to the convention of Februaiy 24th, 
that Bonaparte should reimburse him for the ninety-three mil- 
lions which he had advanced in furnishing supplies to the French 
army, beyond the sum which he owed as his contingent for the 
war. The refusal of Bonaparte to pay that debt, served as a 
pretext for Frederic William to shake off an alliance so contrary 
to the true interests of his kingdom. An appeal which he made 
to the nation excited a general enthusiasm ; and as every thing 
had been for five years preparing in secret, in the twinkling of 
an eye the Prussian army, which had been reduced to 42,000 
men, was raised to 123,000. This defection of Prussia fur- 
nished Bonaparte with a plea for demanding new levies. A de- 
cree of the Senate (April 3, 1813,) ordered him 1 80.000 addi- 
tional troops. 

The treaty which was signed at Kalisch and Breslau (Feb. 
27, 28,) laid the foundation of an intimate alliance between Rus- 
sia and the King of Prussia. Alexander promised to furnish 
150,000 men, and Prussia 80,000, exclusive of the troops in 
garrisons and fortresses. Alexander moreover engaged never 
to lay down arms until Prussia should be restored to her statis- 
tical, financial, and geographical position, conformably to the 
state of that monarchy, such as it had been before the war of 
1806. Within a few days after, these two monarchs had an 
interview at Breslau, where a more intimate friendship was con 
tracted, which subsisted between them for a long lime. 

Prince Kutusoff issued a proclamation, dated from Kalisch 
(March 23, 1813,) which announced to the Germans that the 
Confederation of the Rhine must henceforth be regarded as dis- 
solved. The House of Mecklenburg, without waiting for that 
annunciation, had already set the first example of abandoning 
that league. The allies had flattered themselves that the King 
of Saxony would make common cause with them ; but that 
monarch declared that he would remain faithful to his system. 
This perseverance of a respectable Prince whose country abound- 
ed with resources, did much injury to the common cause. At 
a later date, it cost the King of Saxony the half of his estates, 
without taking into account the dutchy of Warsaw, which could 
never be regarded but as a precarious possession. 

The King of Svi^eden had engaged with Alexander to make 
a diversion on the rear of Bonaparte ; on condition that he would 



PERIOD IX, A. D. 1810— 181-5. 545 

secure him the possession of Norway, or at least the province 
of that kingdom called the Bishopric of Drontheim. Great Bri- 
tain was desirous that that arrangement should be made with 
the consent of the King of Denmark, who was offered a com- 
pensation on the side of Holatein, as well as the whole of Swe- 
dish Pomerania. Frederic VI. having given an absolute refu- 
sal, a treaty between Great Britain and Sweden was concluded 
at Stockholm (March 3, 1813,) by which the latter engaged to 
employ a body of 30,000 troops on the Continent in active ser- 
vice against France. It was agreed that this army should act 
in concert with the Russian troops placed, in consequence of 
other arrangements, under the command of the Prince Royal of 
Sweden. Great Britain promised to employ every necessary 
means for procuring Sweden the possession of Norway, without 
having recourse to force ; unless the King of Denmark should 
refuse to accede to the alliance of the North. She promised to 
furnish supplies to Sweden, and ceded to her the island of 
Guadaloupe. After this alliance with England, Sweden entered 
likewise into a league offensive and defensive with Prussia, by 
a treaty which was signed at Stockholm (April 22.) Frederic 
William promised to despatch 27,000 troops to join the army 
which the Prince Royal commanded in Germany. 

Murat, to whom Bonaparte had intrusted the command of the 
few troops which he had brought back from Moscow, abandoned 
his commission, and retired to Naples. Eugene Beauhamais 
then assumed the command, and arrived with 16,000 men on the 
Elbe (March 10;) but after being joined by the French troops 
from Pomerania, the Bavarians, the Saxons, and a corps which 
General Grenier had formed, his army by the end of the 
month amounted to 87,000 men ; extending along the left bank 
of the river from Dresden to Hamburg. In a short time, the 
whole disposable force of Bonaparte in Germany were again 
augmented to 308,000 men. 

The Prussian army consisted of 128,000 troops, including 
garrisons and bodies of reserve; but the three battalions of 
Blucher, Yorke, and Bulow, who had taken the field, did not 
amount to more than 51,000 combatants. The main army of 
the Russians, which, since the death of Kutusoff, had been com- 
manded by Count Witgenstein, amounted to 38,000 men ; al- 
though the whole of the Russian forces on the Vistula and the 
Oder, and between the Oder and the Elbe, amounted to 166,000 
men. The first action, which took place in Germany, was the 
battle of Luneburg (April 2,) where the Russian General Doren- 
berg obliged General Morand's division, on their route from 
Pomerania, to lay down their arms. 

35 



546 CHAPTER XII. 

On the 5th of April, Bonaparte took the command of his army 
in person ; and on the 2d of May with 115,000 men, he engaged 
169,000 Prussians and Russians, under the command of Wit- 
genstein. The advantage in that action was on the side of the 
French. The loss on both sides was equal. The Prussians 
took 1000 prisoners, with 10 pieces of cannon, without them- 
selves losing one. The scene of this battle, so glorious for the 
Prussians, was in the neighbourhood of Gross-Gerschen, to 
which Bonaparte gave the name of Lutzen, in commemoration 
of the famous Gustavus Adolphus. In his bulletins he repre- 
sented that battle, which was by no means decisive, as a com- 
plete victory, because the allies did not renew the combat, and 
next day commenced their retreat to the right bank of the Rhine, 
to advance nearer to their reinforcements. 

They took up a position at Bautzen. Their numbers there 
amounted to 96,000 men, who engaged 148,000 French, under 
the command of Bonaparte (May 21, 1813.) The Allies had 
determined not to expose themselves to a defeat, but to terminate 
every battle the moment they saw it could not turn to their ad- 
vantage. Within five days after that engagement, to which the 
French gave the name of the battle of Wurtchen, Blucher gain- 
ed a decided advantage at Haynau over the division of General 
Maison, and captured the whole of their artillery. An armis- 
tice was then concluded between the two parties at Poischwitz. 

This measure was at the request of Bonaparte, as it wa& 
necessary for him to await the arrival of his reinforcements , 
especially since he found himself menaced on the North by an 
invasion of the Swedes. It is probable he would not have taken 
this step had he penetrated the views of Austria ; but Count 
Metternich had dexterously contrived to conceal these from him, 
in the several interviews which he had with him at Dresden, so 
that the sagacity of that great commander was completely al 
fault. The Allies had no wish for an armistice, which could 
only make them lose time, as their armaments were in a state 
of readiness; but they consented to it at the request of Austria, 
who had need of some delay to complete her preparations, 
although she was at first actuated by a difl^erent motive. She 
had still hopes to avoid the war, by inducing Bonaparte to accept 
those moderate conditions of peace to which the Allies had given 
their consent by the treaty of June 27, of which we shall have 
occasion to speak immediatel3\ At the time when the armistice 
was signed, Count Metternich, who had apprized Bonaparte of 
these conditions, had already certain information that the two 
monarchs were not deceived in predicting that they would be 
refused. All hopes of peace had now vanished; but there still 



PERIOD IX. A. D. 1810 — 1815. 547 

remained another motive, which made the Court of Vienna 
anxious for further delay. 

By a convention signed at Dresden (June 30,) Bonaparte ac- 
cepted the mediation of Austria for a peace, either general or 
Continental ; and the armistice, which was to expire on the 20th 
July, was prolonged to the 10th of August. At the request of 
Francis I., a sort of congress was opened at Prague. Bonaparte 
had no wish for peace, as he never supposed that Austria would 
declare against him. The Allies had no wish for it, as they 
knew well the disposition of that power ; while Austria, the only 
Cabinet which had pacific views, had given up all hope of ever 
bringing Bonaparte to any reasonable terms of accommodation. 
Such were the auspices under which the Congress of Prague 
was opened. They were discussing the form in which the ne- 
gotiations were to proceed, when the 10th of August arrived. 
The ministers of Russia and Prussia then declared that the 
term of the armistice had expired, and consequently that their 
diplomatic powers were at an end. 

Within two days after, Austria declared war against Bona- 
parte ; and the three monarchs who met at Prague, resolved to 
accompany the main army, which was under the command of 
Prince Schwartzenberg, during the whole campaign. 

It will not be improper here to give a summary of the treaties 
which constituted the sixth coalition, and procured the accession 
of Austria so decisive for the cause of the allies. (1.) The 
treaty of Reichenbach (June 14,) between Great Britain and 
Prussia. The former bound herself to pay to the other, within 
the six months, 666,666Z. sterling, for the maintenance of 80,000 
troops ; and came under the same engagement with regard to 
the augmentation of Prussia, that Russia had entered into by 
the treaty of Kalisch. The King of Prussia promised to cede 
to the Electorate of Hanover a certain portion of territory, inclu- 
ding the principality of Hildesheim, and containing a population 
of between 3 and 400,000 souls. (2.) The treaty of Reichen- 
bach between Great Britain and Russia (June 15,) by which the 
former promised to pay to the other, before the expiration of the 
year, 1,333,334Z, sterling, for the maintenance of 160,000 men. 
(3.) The treaty of Reichenbach, between Austria, Prussia, and 
Russia (June 27 ;) the first engaged to declare war against Bo- 
naparte, if at the conclusion of the armistice he had not accepted 
the conditions of peace which they offered him. The following 
are the proposals to which we have already alluded. Austria 
on her own behalf, demanded only the restitution of the Illyrian 
provinces, and the territory which she had ceded to the dutchy 
of Warsaw. Such were the pledges of her sincere desire for 



548 CHAPTER XII. 

restoring peace to Europe. Prussia was content to obtain the 
restitution of her part of the same dutchy, and that of Dantzic, 
and the evacuation of the fortresses occupied by the French ; 
thus abandoning all her poss'^ssions on the left bank of the Elbe. 
Moreover, they allowed the kingdom of Westphalia still to re- 
main, and they deprived Bonaparte only of his last usurpationn 
in the north of Germany. By another article of the treaty, it 
was stipulated, that if these conditions were rejected, and war 
once begun, they should never make peace but on condition that 
Austria and Prussia were to be again placed on the footing in 
which they had been in 1805 ; that the Confederation of the 
Rhine should be dissolved ; the independence of Holland and 
Italy secured : and the House of Bourbon restored to the throne 
of Spain. (4.) The treaty of Peters waldau between Great Bri- 
tain and Russia (July 6.) by which the former undertook to sup- 
port a German legion of 10,000 men for the service of Russia. 
(5.) A definitive alliance signed at Toplitz (Sept. 9,) between 
Austria, Prussia, and Russia, by which these powers were to 
assist each other with 60,000 men. It was agreed to reconstruct 
the Austrian monarchy upon the plan approaching as near as 
possible to that of 1805; to dissolve the Confederation of the 
Rhine and the kingdom of Westphalia ; and to restore the House 
of Brunswick-Luneburg. (6.) The treaty of alliance signed at 
Toplitz between Austria and Great Britain. 

Bonaparte, on his side, likewise acquired an ally at this im- 
portant crisis. The Danes had already entered into Hamburg 
with the French, when Marshal Davoust compelled General 
Tettenborn to evacuate that city, (May 30,) Avhich he had got 
possession of in the month of March. An English fleet having 
appeared off Copenhagen (May 31,) and demanded the cession 
of Norway in favour of Sweden, the King of Denmark conclu- 
ded a treaty with Bonaparte at Copenhagen, by which the former 
engaged to declare war against Sweden, Russia and Prussia, 
and the latter against Sweden. Immediately after, an army of 
12,000 Danes, under the command of Frederic Prince of Hesse 
was joined to that of Davoust. 

The plan of the campaign for the allies had been settled in 
the conference held at Trachenberg by the Emperor of Russia, 
the King of Prussia, the Prince Royal of Sweden, and the pleni- 
potentiaries of Austria and Great Britain. The forces of the 
Coalition amounted to 264,000 Austrians, 249,000 Russians. 
277,000 Prussians, and 24,000 Swedes; but not more than 
700,000 men were engaged in the cam.paign ; of which 192,000 
were occupied with the sieges of Dantzic, Zamoscz, Glogau, Gas- 
trin, and Stettin. These 700,000 men were divided as follows : 



pEiiioD IX. A. D. 1810 — 1616. 549 

The Army of Bohejnia, composed of Austrians, Russians, and 
Prussians, under the command of Prince Schwartzenberg, 
amounted to 237,700 men, with 698 pieces of cannon. 

The Army of the North, composed of Prussians, Russians, 
and Swedes, under the command of the Prince Royal of Swe- 
den, amounting to 154,000 men, with 387 pieces of cannon. 

The Army of Silesia, composed of Prussians and Russians, 
under the command of Blucher, 95,000 strong, with 356 pieces 
of cannon. 

The Austrian Army of Bavaria, commanded by Prince Reuss, 
containing 42,700 men, with 42 pieces of cannon. 

The Austrian Army in Italy, under Hiller, 50,000 strong, 
with 120 pieces of cannon. 

The Austrian Army of Reserve, stationed between Vienna 
and Presburg, under the command of Duke Ferdinand of Wur- 
temberg, 60,000 strong. 

The Russian Army of Reserve in Poland, under the command 
of Bennigsen, 57,000 strong, with 198 pieces of cannon. 

To these forces Bonaparte opposed an army of 462,000 men, 
including 80,000 who occupied thirteen fortresses ; besides the 
army of Bavaria, which watched the movements of the Prince of 
Reuss, and 40,000 men which Eugene Beauharnais had in Italy. 

Hostilities recommenced immediately after the termination of 
the armistice ; Silesia, Saxony, and sometimes the frontiers, be- 
came the theatre of war. The Prince Royal of Sweden 
covered Berlin, which was threatened by Marshal Oudinot. 
The battle of Gross-Beeren (Aug. 23,) which was gained by 
the Prussian General Bulow, saved the capital. In Silesia, 
Blucher, pressed hard by Bonaparte, had retired as far as Jauer ; 
but the latter having intelligence of the march of the allies on 
Dresden, retraced his steps with a part of his army, while Blucher 
attacked Marshal Macdonald at the river Katsbach, and gainec* 
a signal victory (Aug. 26,) in which he took 10,000 prisoners, 
and 103 pieces of cannon. General Puthod, who commanded a 
detachment of 8000 men, was obliged to surrender at Plagwitz 
to Count Langeron (Aug. 29.) The army of Bohemia attacked 
Dresden a few hours after Bonaparte had arrived with his rein- 
forcements. The battle was bloody, and lasted two days (Aug. 
26, 27.) Thirteen thousand Austrians being cut off on the left 
wing, were obliged to lay down their arms ; the allies retired in 
good order, leaving 6000 men killed and wounded on the field 
of battle, and 26 pieces of cannon in the hands of the French, who 
had lost 18,000 men by that victory. General Moreau, who had 
come on the invitation of the Prince Royal of Sweden to take 
a part in the struggle against Napoleon, was mortally wounded. 



550 CHAPTER XII. 

Before the battle, Vandamme had been detached with 30,00u 
men to cut off the retreat of the allies. He encountered Count 
Ostermann Tolstoy, who was at the head of 8000 Auslrians, and 
repulsed him as far as the valley of Culm. The King of Prus- 
sia, who was at Toplitz, apprized the Russian general, that un- 
less he made haste to arrest the march of Vandamme, the latter 
would succeed in cutting off the Emperor Alexander from his 
army. The Russians fought the whole day (Aug. 29,) with the 
most heroic determination ; Count Ostermann having had his 
left arm carried off by a shot, the command was taken by 
Marshal Milloradowich. At length they were reinforced by 
several Austrian and Russian armies, which the King of Prussia 
had sent to their assistance, and which enabled them to main- 
tain their position. During the night, Barclay de Tolly had 
arrived with new reinforcements, and next day (Aug. 30,) the 
famous battle of Culm was fought, which was decided by the 
arrrival of General Kleist on the heights of Nollendorf, lying 
behind the position of Vandamme. The latter finding himself 
thus intercepted, a part of his cavalry forced their passage, by 
cutting their way through a regiment of recruits. Vandamme 
then surrendered himself prisoner, with 10,000 men and 81 
pieces of cannon. 

The grand object of Bonaparte was to get possession of Ber- 
lin. Ney, at the head of 80,000 men, was charged with the ex- 
ecution of this enterprise. But he sustained a complete rout 
at Denewitz (Sept. 6,) by the Prince Royal of Sweden; and 
another by BulowandTauenzien. The French there lost 20,000 
prisoners, with 80 pieces of cannon, and all their baggage. 
The plan of the allies to withdraw Bonaparte from Dresden, and 
allure him into the plains of Saxony, where they could unite 
all their forces against him, succeeded entirely to their wish. 
He quitted Dresden (Oct. 7,) at the head of 125,000 men, with 
the hope of defeating the enemy in separate armies. But the 
latter had manoeuvred so skilfully, that the armies of Bohemia, 
the North, Silesia, and the Russian army of reserve, were 
ready to effect a junction on a given signal. The plains of 
Leipsic decided the fate of Bonaparte. His army there amount- 
ed to 171,000 combatants. The allies would have had 301,000, 
namely, 78,000 Austrians, 69,500 Prussians, 136,000 Russians, 
and 18,000 Swedes, if they had been able to form a union at 
the commencement of the battle. 

Several different engagements had preceded this great battle. 
On the 16th October, the army of Bohemia alone fought three 
several actions at Wachau, Connewitz, and Lindenau. None 
of these were productive of any decisive result; but Blucher 



PERIOD IX. A. D, 1810 — 1815. 551 

had encountered Marshal Mannont on the same day, and de- 
feated him at Mockern. On the following day, there were some 
engagements, but without any decisive result ; they were fought 
by the three armies of Sweden, Blucher, and Bennigsen, who 
were on their march to the field of battle at Leipsic. Bona- 
parte then began to be aware of the danger of his position. 
For the first time he foresaw the possibility of a defeat, and 
sent General Bertrand to Weissenfels to secure the bridge over 
the Saal. On the ISth, at day-break, he made proposals of an 
armistice and peace, through the Austrian General Meerfeld, 
who had fallen into his hands ; but both the one and the other 
were disregarded. This was the first day of the battle of Leip- 
sic ; the French army resisted with great heroism, and it was 
not till after the arrival of Blucher and the army of Sweden, 
that they were compelled to abandon part of their position, and 
to retire to the very gates of Leipsic. Several bodies of Saxons 
and Wurtembergers passed over on that day to the ranks of the 
allies. During the night, the French army effected their retreat 
by Leipsic to Weissenfels. Macdonald and Poniatowski had 
orders to defend the city. It was attacked by the allies next 
day. The French made a vigorous resistance. At ten o'clock 
in the morning, Bonaparte escaped among the fugitives, the 
cannon, and the equipage which encumbered the gate of Altran- 
stadt. The Elster, which runs by the city, had only one bridge, 
which they caused to be blown up as soon as Bonaparte had 
passed. Thus Macdonald and Poniatowski found themselves 
fairly enclosed with their divisions. The latter was drowned 
in attempting to swim across the Elster. Macdonald was made 
prisoner, as well as the King of Saxony, who had remained at 
Leipsic. Bonaparte, on these two days, lost in killed, wounded, 
and prisoners, 70,000 men, and 300 pieces of cannon. The 
allies purchased that victory by the death of 50,000 of their 
troops. 

Bonaparte directed his flight with all haste towards Mayence, 
closely pursued by the Cossacs, who made a great many pri- 
soners, besides a rich booty in cannon and baggage. When he 
arrived at Hanau, he found his passage intercepted by an enemy 
which he did not expect. Since the month of August, a nego- 
tiation had been set on foot with the King of Bavaria, for in- 
ducing him to abandon the cause of Bonaparte. To this mea- 
sure he at length agreed, by a convention, which was signed at 
Ried (Oct. 8,) which secured to Bavaria the possession of ab- 
solute and independent sovereignty, and complete indemnity for 
ihe restitutions which she was, in that case, to make to Austria. 

Immediately after the signing the convention at Ried, the 



552 CHAPTER Xll. 

Bavarian General Wrede, at the head of a body of between 
45,000 and 50,000 Austrians and Bavarians, began their march 
by Neuburg, Anspach, and Wurtsburg ; and after taking this 
latter city, they proceeded to Hanau, of which he took possession 
(Oct. 24,) with 36,000 or 40,000 men. He encountered the 
French, who in their retreat had arrived at Gelnhausn ; there a 
battle took place, which lasted for several successive days. Bo- 
naparte lost 25,000 men in killed, wounded, and prisoners ; but 
with the 35,000 that were left, he forced a passage, and retired 
to the left bank of the Rhine. Marshal St. Cyr, whom Bonaparte 
had left at Dresden, was obliged to capitulate with 27,000 men. 
Dantzic surrendered with 20,000 men, and Torgau with 10,000. 

In the month of May, Eugene Beauharnais had taken the 
command of the army of Italy, which occupied the Illyrian pro- 
vinces. But he was obliged to return beyond the Adige, before 
General Hiller, who, having made himself master of the Tyrol 
was threatening to cut off his retreat. This campaign neverthe- 
less did honour to the French general. 

After the battle of Leipsic, the Prince Royal of Sweden 
marched against Davoust and the Danes, the former of whom 
was blocked up in Hamburg, and the Danes had retired into 
Sleswick. An armistice was granted them, from which however 
Gluckstadt and Fredericsort were excepted, as they had capitu- 
lated during the cessation of hostilities. Frederic VI. concluded 
a peace at Kiel in all haste (Jan. 14, 1814;) and Denmark en- 
tered into the alliance against Bonaparte. We shall have occasion 
to speak afterwards of the mutual cessions that were made by 
this treaty. On the same day Denmark signed a peace with 
Great Britain. She promised to furnish 10,000 men to take the 
field against Bonaparte, and Great Britain engaged to pay them 
33,333Z. per month. Peace was at the same time established be- 
tween Denmark and Russia, by the treaty of Hanover (Feb. 8;) 
and between Denmark and Prussia by that of Berlin (Aug. 25.) 

Meantime Bonaparte had recalled Marshal Soult from Spain 
with a part of his troops. Lord Wellington, the Generalissimo 
of the Spanish armies, defeated Jourdan at Vittoria (June 21, 
1813,) where 15,000 French were left on the field of battle, and 
3000 made prisoners. Jourdan lost the whole of his artillery. 
Joseph Bonaparte then abandoned the throne of Spain for ever. 
The activity of Marshal Suchet defeated an expedition by sea, 
undertaken by Sir John Murray against Tarragona. Lord Wel- 
lington took St. Sebastian and Pampeluna (Aug. 31,) and com- 
pelled the French army to pass the Bidassoa, and to retire on 
Bayonne. Soult again took the command, and by means o^ 
reinforcements increased the army to 40,000 men. 



FERioD IX, A. P. 1810 — 1815. 553 

In Germany, the Confederation of the Rhine and the kingdom 
of Westphalia had both been dissolved. The Electors of Han- 
over and Hesse, the Dukes of Brunswick and Oldenburg, were 
restored to the possession of their ])atrimonies, and joined the 
alliance. The King of Wurtemberg, and the Elector of Baden, 
made their peace with the Allies, by means of special treaties. 
All the princes of the Rhenish Confederation entered into the 
Grand League, except the King of Saxony, the Grand Duke of 
Frankfort, and the princes of Isemburg and Leyen, who were 
excluded from it, and their territories treated as conquered 
provinces. 

On his return to Paris, Bonaparte announced his inteniion of 
continuing the war, and caused the Senate to grant him a new 
conscription of 300,000 men. Nevertheless he appeared willing 
to bring to a conclusion the negotiations which the Allies on the 
Continent had set on fool. According to the terms agreed on at 
Toplitz, the Rhine was to form the frontier of France, and the 
kingdom of Holland v;as to be given to a brother of Bonaparte ; 
but the movements of Napoleon, and the warlike preparations 
which he had ordered, gave England an opportunity of changing 
the sentiments of these monarchs ; and they determined to adopt 
the scheme which Mr. Pitt had contrived in 1805. 

The decree of the Senate, of November 18, 1813, completed 
the immense number of 1,260,000 men ; all of whom, indepen- 
dently of the existing army, had been sacrificed to the restless 
ambition of Bonaparte. The forces with which the Allies in- 
vaded France, were divided into three armies. 

T\ie Army of Bohemia, commanded by Prince Schwarlzenberg, 
and composed of 261,000 men, Austrians, Russians, Prussians, 
and Germans, was destined to enter France by way of Switzer- 
land. 

The Army of Silesia, under the command of Blucher, consist- 
ing of 137,000 men, Prussians, Russians, and Germans, were to 
pass the Rhine near Mayence. 

The Army of the North, composed of 174,000 Prussians, Rus- 
sians, Germans, Swedes, Dutch and English, were to occupv 
Holland and the Netherlands. They were to be commanded by 
the Prince Royal of Sweden, and, in his absence, by the Duke 
of Saxe-Weimar. 

Independently of these three armies, the Allies had an army 
of reserve of 235,000 men, and the Austrians had an army of 
80,000 men in Italy. About the end of December 1813, and 
the beginning of the year 1814, the two first armies entered 
France. We can only advert to the principal events of that 
short campaign. After some actions of minor importance 



554 CHAPTER XII. 

Blucher attacked Bonaparte at Rothiere with a superior force, 
and in spite of the vigorous resistance which he met with, he 
gamed a complete victory (Feb. 1.) Thirteen days afterwards, 
Bonaparte returned him the compliment at Etoges or Vauchamp. 
Being enclosed by Grouchy, Blucher had to cut his way at the 
point of the bayonet, and lost 6000 men. 

The Allies, after having received various checks, combined 
their two armies at Troyes (Feb. 21 ;) but Frince Schwartzen- 
berg, not wishing to give battle in that position, began to retreat. 
Blucher then separated from him to continue on the defensive ; 
after being reinforced, however, by the divisions of Bulow and 
Winzingerode, which had arrived from Belgium ; their junction 
took place at Soissons (March 3.) Blucher took up a position 
behind the Aisne. Bonaparte having passed that river, defeated 
two bodies of Russians under Woronzoff and Saken at Craone 
(March 7,) and attacked Blucher at Laon (March 10.) He was 
there totally defeated ; and that victory induced Schwartzenberg 
to abandon the defensive, and march on Paris. He engaged 
Bonaparte at Arcis-sur-Aube, where the battle, although bloody, 
was not decisive. They were in expectation of seeing the en- 
gagement renewed next day, when Bonaparte suddenly resolved 
to march to St. Dizier, to cut off the allies from their communi- 
cation with the Rhine, as well as to draw reinforcements from 
the garrisons of Lorraine and Alsace, and thus transfer the the- 
atre of war to Germany. 

But before bringing the sketch of this campaign to a close, 
it will be necessary to take notice of the Congress of Chatillon. 
which was opened on the 5th February, and which was a con- 
tinuation of the negotiations that had taken place towards the 
close of the year 1813. The allies consented to allow Bona- 
parte to retain the crown of France, but the limits of that king- 
dom to be reduced to what they had been in 1792. Bonaparte 
at first seemed willing to treat on these terms, but his real ob- 
ject was to gain time. Whenever his troops had gained any 
advantage he immediately heightened his tone ; and in the 
course of six weeks the allies broke off the conference. During 
the sitting of the Congress of Chatillon, Austria, Great Britain, 
Prussia and Russia, signed the famous Quadruple Alliance at 
Chaumont (March 1,) which became the basis of the new politi- 
cal system of Europe. Each of the allies engaged to maintain 
an army of 150,000 men constantly in the field against the com- 
mon enemy. Great Britain promised to furnish to the three 
other powers a subsidy of 5,000,000^. sterling foi the year 1814; 
in such a way, however, that she was only to pay them propor- 
tioiially until the end of the month in which the peace should 



PERIOD iX. A. D. 1810 — 1815. 555 

be concluded, adding to these two months for the return of the 
Austrian and Prussian troops, and four for those of the Russians. 
The main object of this alliance was the re-establishment of an 
equilibrium of power, based upon the following arrangements :— 
German^ to be composed of Sovereign Princes united by a fed- 
eral bond : The Confederation of Switzerland to be restored to 
its ancient limits and its former independence : Italy to be divi- 
ded into Independent States, lying between the Austrian pos- 
sessions in that peninsula and France : Holland to be a free 
and independent State, under the sovereignty of the Prince of 
Orange, with an increase of territory. 

Blucher had made himself master of Chalons and Chateau 
Thierry, when the allies learned, by an intercepted letter, what 
were the plans of Bonaparte. In order to persuade him that 
they had taken the alarm at his march, and were resolved to 
follow him, they sent Count Winzingerode after him at the head 
of a body of 8000 cavalry, which he might easily mistake for 
the vanguard of the allies. By this manceuvre he was deceived, 
and continued his route eastwards while the allies directed their 
march on Paris. Schwartzenberg attacked and beat the two 
divisions of Marmont and Mortier, at Soude St. Croix (March 
25,) while the army of Silesia compelled Puthod and Amey to 
surrender near Lafere Champenoise. This double encounter 
cost the French 5000 killed, 10,000 prisoners, and SO pieces of 
cannon. Marmont and Mortier retreated to Paris, but they 
were defeated at Montmartre and Belleville (March 30.) The 
heights, which on that side overlook Paris, were taken by the 
allies, who purchased that victory by the loss of 9000 men. A 
capitulation for Paris was signed the same night. 

The entrance of the allies into the capital of France took 
place next day. The Emperor Alexander immediately declared 
in his own name, and in that of his allies, that they could treat 
no more with Napoleon, or with any of his family. He invited 
the Senate to estiablish a provisional government, — a measure 
which was necessary, as the Count D'Artois, who was appoint- 
ed the King's Lieutenant-General, had not yet arrived. He 
likewise invited that body to prepare a constitution, that is to 
say, to submit their counsel and advice to the King, as to the 
modifications to be made in the government ; for the French 
constitution which is based on the Salic law has been in exis- 
tence for centuries. The Emperor Alexander made that propo- 
sal to the Senate, as being the only order of the State then in 
existence ; but that monarch did not know that the Senate was 
the last authority to which the public opinion would have granted 
any influence, as to the settlement of the condition of France 



556 CHAPTER XII. 

The General Council of the Department of the Seine, and the 
Municipal Council of Paris, demanded the return of Louis 
XVIII., their legitimate sovereign (April 1.) In pronouncing 
the deposition of Bonaparte next day, the Senate exercised a 
right which did not belong to them. As that body owed its 
existence to Napoleon, its functions should have ceased with his. 

On the seventh day of his march the Eviperor of the French 
discovered his error. He then returned in all haste towards 
Fontainbleau. After several unsuccessful attempts, either to 
regain his power or to transmit it to his son, he was obliged to 
sign his abdication (April 10.) Next day Austria, Prussia, and 
Russia, drew up a convention with his delegates Ney, Macdon- 
ald, and Caulincourt, by which, at the suggestion of the Empe- 
ror of Russia, they secured him the possession of the Island of 
Elba, with full sovereignty ; and the States of Parma for his 
wife and son. Great Britain acceded to that arrangement, to 
which the King of France yet remained a stranger. Bonaparte 
soon after embarked at St. Rapheau, to repair to his place of 
exile. 

The narrow space to which we must confine our observations, 
obliges us to pass in silence over the military events which took 
place in Holland and Belgium, and on the side of Lyons. But 
we must say a word or two on the war in the Pyrenees and in 
Italy. Anticipating the resolutions of the Allied Sovereigns, 
Lord Wellington, with whom the Duke D'Angouleme then was, 
invited the French, by a proclamation dated January 27th, to 
replace Louis on the throne. Within a month after, he defeated 
the army of Soult at Orthes (Feb. 27,) and compelled that Gen- 
eral to retire to Tarbes. To satisfy the wishes of the inhabi- 
tants of Bourdeaux, Marshal Beresford conducted the Duke 
D'Angouleme to that place, which was the first city in France 
that proclaimed Louis XVIII. (March 13.) The allies had 
already entered Paris, and Bonaparte had abdicated his crown, 
when Lord Wellington, who was ignorant of these events, fought 
his last battle with Soult at Toulouse (April 10.) In that san- 
guinary but fruitless engagement, the French were totally de- 
feated. 

In Italy, an event not a little extraordinary had happened. 
Murat had turned his back on his benefiictor, who had raised 
him from the dust to encircle his brow with a diadem. From 
the commencement of the year 1813, he had endeavoured to 
have his title acknowledged by the House of Austria. After 
the battle of Leipsic, he abandoned the Continental system, from 
a wish to please England, and throw open the ports of his king- 
dom to all sorts of merchandise. He entered into a negotiation 



PERIOD IX. A. D. J 810 — 1815. 557 

with the Courts both of London and Vienna, with a view to be 
admitted into the grand alliance ; at the same time, he set on 
foot an army of 34,000 men, who entered Rome- and directed 
their march towards Ancona. Austria concluded an alliance 
with him (Jan. 11, 1814,) which guaranteed to him the posses- 
sion of the kingdom of Naples, with the reservation of an in* 
demnity for the King of Sicily. Immediately after, Murat an- 
nounced the change in his political conduct. He blockaded the 
citadel of Ancona, took possession of Florence, where his sister- 
in-law, the Grand Dutchess, escaped to save her life, and pushed 
on as far as Modena. Lord Bentinck, who commanded the 
British forces in Sicily, then concluded an armistice with Murat. 
Eugene Beauharnais, who had supposed that the Neapolitan 
army would come to his succour, was at length undeceived, and 
obliged to retreat on the Mincio ; but he fought a battle with 
Field-Marshal Bellegarde who commanded the Austrians in the 
room of Hiller (Feb. 8,) which cost the latter the loss of 8,500 
men. in killed, wounded, and prisoners. Fouche, who was at 
Lucca as Commissary-general of Bonaparte, concluded a con- 
vention with the Neapolitans, in virtue of Avhich Tuscany was 
restored to them. The Viceroy, seeing himself pressed on the 
one hand by the Austrians, and on the other by the Neapolitans ; 
and having received intelligence of the entrance of the allies 
into Paris, negotiated an armistice, which was signed at Schia- 
rino Rizzino (April 16.) A few days after, his friends made an 
attempt to have him proclaimed King of Italy by the people of 
Milan. But the hatred which the Italians had for the French 
prevailed over their attachment to the Viceroy, who wisely adopt- 
ed the resolution of .surrendering all the places in the kingdom 
of Italy to the Austrian troops, and retired with his family to 
Germany. 

The Senate of France had, with all expedition, completed and 
published a pretended constitution (April 6,) inAvhich two things 
especially shocked the opinion of the public, viz. the care which 
the authors of that production had taken to secure the continu- 
ance! of their own authority with the revenues thereto attached, 
and the violation of the first principle of monarchy of which they 
had been guilty, by arrogating to themselves the right of con- 
fernng ihe crown of France on him to whom it belonged by 
birt.h-right, and who, far from renouncing it. had taken care to 
secure his rights by formal protestations. Within six days after, 
the Count D'Artois, the King's Lieutenant-general, arrived in 
Paris, and concluded a convention with the allies (April 23,) as 
a prelude to a general peace. They engaged to evacuate the 
territory of France ; and they settled ihe terms on which the 



558 CHAPTER XII. 

places possessed by the French troops not within their own 
territories, were to be delivered up. The King of France had 
landed at Calais (April 25,) and was slowly approaching his 
capital. A declaration, which he published at St. Ouen (May 
2,) annulled the constitution of the Senate, and promised the 
nation a charter, the principles of which were announced in that 
same declaration. Next day Louis XVIII. made his solemn 
entry into Paris. 

The first care of Louis was to conclude peace with the Allies. 
A military convention was signed (May 28,) regulating differ- 
ent points regarding the maintenance and march of the troops, 
hospitals, magazines, &c. ; and immediately treaties of peace 
were concluded with the four grand powers (May 30,) to which 
the others acceded. France was to return to her ancient limits 
of January 1, 1792, with an augmentation of territory on the 
north side. She likewise retained Avignon and the County of 
Venaissin. Louis XVIII. adhered to the principles of the al- 
liance of Chaumont, as to the political system to be established 
in Europe. England retained Malta, but gave up the French 
colonies, with the exception of Tobago, St. Lucia, and the Isle 
of France, with their dependencies. Guiana, which had been 
taken from Portugal, was restored. Certain secret articles 
pointed out the manner in which the Allied Powers were to dis 
pose of the territories surrendered by France ; and annulled the 
endowments and donations made by Bonaparte in these territo- 
ries. Certain special articles were added with regard to Prus- 
sia, which annulled the peace of Tilsit, and all its consequences. 

In the month of June, the Emperor Alexander, the King of 
Prussia, and Prince Metternich, repaired to London, where they 
concluded a new quadruple alliance, by which the contracting 
powers engaged to keep on foot an army of 75,000 men each, 
until the restoration of order in Europe. The sovereigns 
agreed also, during their stay in London, that Belgium should 
be united to Holland, with which it was to form one and the 
same State. 

Immediately after the conclusion of the peace, Louis XVIII. 
published the charter or Constitution which he proposed to the 
nation. This was not a constitution in the sense which had 
been attached to that word since the year 1789 ; that is to say, a 
body of laws or regulations, fully and finally settling the prero- 
gative of the King, and the powers of the different authorities, 
as vvell as the rights and privileges of the citizens. It was a 
declaration by which the King, in conformity with the principles 
which had prevailed for a century, modified the Royal power 
in certain respects, and promised never to exercise it in future 



PERIOD IX. A. D. 1810—1815. 559 

?xcept according to the established forms. Thus the Royal 
authority, Avhich Louis XVIII. derived from his ancestors, and 
which was founded on the ancient order of succession, remained 
inviolate and entire in all its branches. 

The peace of Paris gave rise to a multitude of treaties be- 
tween the different powers of Europe. Of these we can only 
notice a small number, which we shall do when we come to 
speak of the history of these countries. Meantime, we must 
confine our remarks to general affairs, and more particularly to 
those in which France is concerned. 

An article in the treaty of Paris, of May 30th, had stipulated 
that within the space of two months, the plenipotentiaries of all 
the powers who had taken part in the late events, France in- 
cluded, should meet in a general Congres-s at Vienna, to concert 
the necessary arrangements for completing the conditions and 
regulations of the treaty. The reconstruction of Germany into 
a body politic ; the replacing of Prussia and Austria on a foot- 
ing analogous to the power which they had enjoyed in 1806 
and 1805 ; the fate of Poland ; the establishment of an inde- 
pendent state between France and Germany ; the neutrality of 
Switzerland ; the organization of Italy, which had been com- 
pletely subverted by Bonaparte ; the regulating of the indem- 
nities which might be claimed by the different States who had 
taken a part in the war ; and the settling of the territorial ex- 
changes to which these claims might give rise, were the im- 
portant objects about which the plenipotentiaries were neces- 
sarily to be employed. To these England added one subject 
which might appear foreign to the business of that Congress, 
viz. the question as to the abolition of Negro Slavery ; ano- 
ther arose from the most unexpected event of Napoleon's return, 
which compelled the sovereigns of Europe again to take arms, 
and to conquer France a second time. 

Owing to different causes, the opening of the Congress did 
not take place till towards the end of the year. We may men- 
tion, with regard to the form of the Congress, that although it 
was composed of the plenipotentairies of all the allies, great and 
small, they never held any general Session. The affairs of 
Germany were kept distinct from those of the rest of Europe ; 
theConfresSjConsisting of the plenipotentiaries of the five great 
powers, namely, Austria, France, Great Britain, Prussia, and 
Russia ; and the other of the plenipotentiaries of these and 
the remaining powers ; Spain, Portugal, and Sweden, being 
added to the first five. The questions relating to GermanVi 
were discussed at first by Austria, Prussia, Bavaria, Hanover, 
and Wurtemberg ; a.l though, afterwards, all the sovereigns of 



560 CHAPTER XIl 

Germany were called into these deliberations. There were 
certain affairs which were prepared and discussed by special 
commissions. 

The subject which occasioned the greatest difficulty, and 
which was even on the point of disturbing the unanimity of the 
Cabinets, was the reconstruction of the Prussian monarchy. 
Prussia was to be restored to all that she had possessed in 1805, 
except the principalities of Franconia, which were in the pos- 
session of Bavaria ; the district of Bialystock which was an- 
nexed to Russia ; and the grand dutchy of Posnania, which 
Alexander had declared his intention of comprehending in the 
kingdom of Poland which he proposed to restore. Frederic 
William promised to cede to Hanover a territory inhabited by 
between three and four hundred thousand souls. For these 
losses he claimed an indemnity ; and as Saxony was the only 
kingdom which could offer him compensation, Grea^ Britain, 
Russia, and Austria, had consented to an acquisit'jn which 
seemed to be justified by the conduct of the King of Saxony, 
who in 1807 had shared the spoils of Prussia, and in 1813 had 
made common caiiae with Bonaparte. 

The Emperor Alexander thus put Prussia in possession of 
Saxony, which her troops had till then occupied. The man- 
ner, however, in which public opinion in England and in Eu- 
rope generally had expressed itself against the designs of Prus- 
sia, and the insinuations of the French minister at Vienna, 
induced Austria and the Cabinet of London to oppose the exe- 
cution of this plan, not only by interesting themselves for the 
preservation of Saxony, but by disputing the claims advanced 
by Prussia, and refusing to allow the dutchy of Warsaw to fall 
sntirely into the hands of Russia. The Emperor Alexander, 
who concurred entirely with Prussia, supported it with all his 
efforts. Being apprized, however, that Austria, France, and 
Great Britain had just concluded an alliance or agreement which 
appeared to have some reference to the fate of Saxony, anc! 
wishing to remove every ground of misunderstanding, he offerea 
to augment the portion of Prussia on the side of Poland, and 
advised her to be content with the moiety of Saxony which was 
offered her, and to accept the provinces beyond the Rhine, which 
were also destined for her. 

The five powers having come to an agreement on these points 
(Feb. 12,) the king of Saxony was invited to come to the neigh- 
bourhood of Vienna. Ever since the battle of Leipsic, that 
Prince had remained in a kind of captivity at Fredericsfeldt near 
Berlin. He accepted the invitation and repaired to Vienna, but 
he refused to consent to the cessions which they demanded of 



PERIOD IX. A. D. 1810—1815. 561 

him. His refusal induced the five great powers to go to greater 
excess ; .'.hey ordained that, until the King should have come to 
a determination, Prussia should remain in possession of the 
whole of Saxony. Frederic Augustus was obliged to yield to 
the course of events, and ratified a treaty whicJi was signed at 
Vienna (May 18.) That part of his kingdom which was ceded 
to Prussia was named the Dutchy of Saxony. 

The organization of Germany into a Confederacy, to be com- 
posed of sovereign States, was, next to the settlement of Prussia, 
the object which occasioned the greatest embarrassment. But 
as France and Russia took no direct part in it, and as for that 
reason it can scarcely be said to belong to the class of general 
affairs, we shall not now speak of it. The same must be done 
with regard to all the negotiations concerning Switzerland and 
Italy, of which we shall speak elsewhere. 

Great Britain had introduced the question as to Negro Sla- 
very, of which, in the name of humanity and religion, she de- 
manded the entire abolition, by a decree of all Europe. Den- 
mark had prohibited that traffic long before England. Neither 
Austria, Russia, Prussia, nor Sweden, had any motive fop 
favouring it ; but it was not the case with Portugal, Spain, and 
France, who referred, with reason, to the example of England 
herself, for resisting the introduction of any sudden change 
which would be pernicious to the state of their colonies, and 
might ruin the fortune of their subjects. These powers readily 
agreed to combine with England for the abolition of the trade ; 
but they wished that it should be left to each of them to fix the 
term on which they could do so to the most advantage. This 
question was made the subject of discussion in the conferences 
between the eight powers at Vienna. Lord Castlereagh de- 
manded, in the name of the British government, that all the 
powers should announce their support of the general principle 
of the abolition of the slave trade, and their wish to carry that 
measure into effect with the shortest possible delay. This pro- 
position was unanimously adopted ; but the other proposal which 
he made, to inquire into the possibility of an immediate aboli- 
tion, or at least, into the period when each of the powers might 
be able to fix its ultimate abolition ; and a third by which he 
w^ished to obtain an immediate partial abolition of that traffic, ]net 
with the most decided resistance on the part of the three States 
who had foreign colonies. As the four other powers had no 
right to interfere in the internal legislation of these States, the 
Declaration which the Congress published (Feb. S,) proclaimed 
the principle recognised by them all, viz. that the determination 
of the period when the trade was to cease generally should be 

left to the negotiations of the contracting powers. 

36 



562 CHAPTER xn. 

Europe was in the enjoyment of apparent tranquillity, when 
Bonaparte quitted Elba, landed with a thousand adventurers on 
the shores of France (March 1,) invited his former friends to join 
him, and deceiving the inhabitants by pretending to be supported 
by Austria, marched towards Paris, which he entered within 
twenty days after his landing. The King and the Royal Family 
were again obliged to retire to Lille. When Louis arrived in 
that city, he signed an order for disbanding the army ; but the 
greater part of the troops had already sworn allegiance to Napo- 
leon. Finding himself insecure at Lille, the King retired to 
Ghent (March 30.) Bonaparte published a new constitution 
(April 22,) under the title of The Additional Act to the Consti- 
tution of the Empire. One of the articles which it contained, 
pronounced the perpetual banishment of the Bourbons. In order 
to flatter the partisans of the sovereign people, this act was sub- 
mitted for their acceptance, and Bonaparte summoned an assem- 
bly of extraordinary deputies, to meet in the Champ de Mai. He 
likewise summoned a Chamber of the Representatives, or Legis- 
lative Body. The meeting of the Champ de Mai was held ; and 
two days after, a Chamber of Peers, created by Bonaparte, and 
a Chamber of the Representatives of the Nation, opened their 
sessions. 

So soon as the news of the landing of Bonaparte in France 
was received at Vienna, the eight contracting powers published' 
a declaration, importing, that as Bonaparte had thus broken the 
convention which had placed him in the Island of Elba, he had 
destroyed the only legal title on which his existence depended^ 
and had thus forfeited all relations, civil and social. The allied 
sovereigrts refused to receive the letters by which he announced 
to them that he had again taken possession of the throne of 
France. Being of opinion, that the time was come for executing 
the engagements they had contracted at Chaumont, the four 
powers wh© were parties to that treaty, renewed their engage- 
ments by new treaties of alliance (March 25.) They promised 
to combine all their forces for maintaining the treaty of Paris of 
May 30th 1814, and to set on foot, each of them, an army of 
180,000 men. By an additional convention, Great Britain un- 
dertook to pay to the three others, subsidies to the amount of 
5,000,000Z- Sterling per annum. All the princes of the Germanic 
Confederation, — Portugal, Sardinia, the Netherlands, Switzer- 
land, and Denmark, acceded to this alliance ; and Great Bri- 
tain granted subsidies to them all, proportioned to the forces 
which they might send into the field. Of all the powers having 
plenipotentiaries at Vienna, Spain and Sweden only declined 
entering into this alliance. The King of Sj?ain refused his -^r. 



PERIOD IX. A. D. 18.10 — 1815. 563 

cession, as being contrary to his dignity ; he would have had no 
objections to have become a principal party, and he co-operated 
as such in the war. Sweden was too much occupied with the 
conquest of Norway to take any part in the deliverance of France. 

There was still another monarch who had not joined the alli- 
ance of Vienna, and that was Murat. The King of France had 
refused to acknowledge him as King of Naples, and Lord Cas- 
tlereagh had declared at Vienna, that Great Britain could not 
treat with Murat, as he had not fulfilled his engagements ; and, 
therefore, that it depended on the Congress to decide as to the 
fate of the kingdom of Naples. These declarations induced 
Murat to take arms ; nevertheless, he continued to dissemble, 
until he learned that Bonaparte had arrived at Lyons. Then 
it was that he threw off the mask. He marched at the head of 
his army towards the Po, and issued a proclamation (March 30,) 
by which he proclaimed liberty to all the inhabitants of Italy. 
The Austrian army in that peninsula, immediately put them- 
selves in motion to oppose him. Being defeated at Tolentino by 
General Bianchi (May 2,) he retreated first to Naples, and after 
a short stay there, he took refuge in France. The government 
of Ferdinand IV. was again restored. 

Meantime, as the partisans of Bonaparte, and the revolution- 
ists every where, were at great pains to propagate and cherish 
doubts as to the determination of the allied sovereigns to follow 
up the act of the 13th March, which had been adopted at a 
time when it was hoped that France would have no more need 
of foreign aid; the allied sovereigns deemed it necessary to 
make known the expression of their principles by a solemn act ; 
to which they gave the form of a proces-verbal, or edict, signed 
by the plenipotentiaries of the eight powers. The publication 
of that act was equivalent to a declaration of war against Bona- 
parte. It opened the eyes of those credulous followers who had 
till then believed that Austria and Russia were on friendly 
terms with him. 

All the negotiations of the Congress of Vienna being termi- 
nated by the signing of the Act of the Germanic Confederation, 
which took place on June 8th, the plenipotentiaries of the eight 
contracting powers next day signed the Act of Congress, which 
was a recapitulation or abstract of all their preceding regula- 
tions, either by particular treaties or by declarations and edicts, 
(or protocols, as they are sometimes called at Vienna,) relative 
to Poland, the territorial arrangements in Germany, the Ger- 
manic Confederation, the kingdom of the Netherlands, Switzer- 
land, Italy, Portugal, the navigation of rivers, the rank of dip- 
lomatic agents, and the form of accessions and ratifications of 



564 CHAPTER XII. 

the act itself. Thus did this august assembly terminate its 
labours. 

An army of 1,365,000 men were preparing to invade France, 
but the struggle against Bonaparte was decided by about 
200,000 ; and not more than 500,000 foreigners set foot on the 
soil of France. The allies had formed four armies, viz. 

The Army of the Netherlands, commanded by Lord Welling- 
ton, consisting of 71,000 English, Hanoverians, and Bruns- 
wickers, with the troops of the Netherlands and Nassau. 

The Army of the Lower Rhine, consisting of 140,000 Prus- 
sians, under the command of Blucher. 

The Army of the Upper Rhi7ie, commanded by Schwartzen- 
berg, and consisting of 130,000 Austrian, and 124,000 German 
troops. 

The Army of the Middle Rhine, 168,000 strong, under the 
command of Barclay de Tolly. They were to be stationed be- 
tween the two preceding armies, but they were unable to arrive 
in time at the scene of action, and the campaign was decided 
by the first two armies alone. 

The forces of Bonaparte amounted to 213,000 men, exchisive 
of 147,000 of the national guard to be employed in garrison. 
He had divided them into eight armies. That of the north, 
which he commanded himself, consisted of 108,000 men. 

Bonaparte opened the campaign on the 15ih June, by de- 
taching a second corps across the Sambre, to attack the Prussian 
General Zieten, who was obliged to yield to the superior 
strength of the enemy, and retire towards Fleurus. Next day 
the Duke of Brunswick, who had left Brussels at the head of 
12,000 men to support the Prussians, was killed at Quatre Bras ; 
Marshal Ney, who commanded the French, sustained a consi- 
derable loss ; on the same day Marshal Blucher was defeated 
at Ligny, but he retired in the greatest order to Brie. Bona- 
parte from that moment resolved to attack Wellington, who 
gave him battle at Waterloo, or Mont St. Jean. The combat 
was continued, with various success, from morning till four 
o'clock, when the Prussians, consisting of General Bulow's di- 
vision, and commanded by Blucher in person, approached the 
field of battle, and fell suddenly on the right wing of the French, 
while Bonaparte supposed that the whole Prussian army was 
engaged with Grouchy, whom he had sent against them with a 
detachment of 40,000 men. On the first appearance of the 
Prussians, Bonaparte supposed that it was General Grouchy, 
who after having defeated the Prussians, was marching to the 
support of his right wing. The fact is, that General Thiel- 
mans, having, been attacked by Grouchy near Wavre, Blucher 



PERIOD IX. A. 1). 1810 — 1815. 565 

had sent him word to defend himself the best way he could, 
and did not allow himself to be diverted from his original plan 
of falling upon the right wing of Bonaparte. When Bonaparte 
at length discovered his error, he lost all resolution. His army 
were panic-struck, and fled in all directions. He was himself 
nearly taken prisoner, having escaped with great difficulty. 
The Germans have given this battle the name of Belle Alliance, 
from the house where Blucher and Wellington met after the 
action. Of 120,000 French, 60,000 were either taken or killed 
in the two days of the 16th and 18th June 1815 ; 64,000 Eng- 
lish, and 50,000 Prussians were engaged in the battle. The 
English lost 14,000 men on the 18th, and the Prussians 33,000 
in the two engagements of the 16th and 18th. 

Bonaparte made his escape to Paris, but the Chamber of 
Representatives, composed of the partisans of the Revolution of 
1789, and of Republicans who had no wish to promote the in- 
terest of Bonaparte, except as an instrument for the execution 
of their own plans, determined to take advantage of the con- 
tempt into which he had fallen to get rid of his presence. They 
required him to abdicate, which he did June 22d, in favour of 
his son. The Chambers appointed a government commission, 
at the head of which they placed Fouche, who sent deputies to 
Heidelberg, where the head-quarters of the Allied Sovereigns 
then were, with a commission to treat with them on the basis 
of the national independence, and the inviolability of the soil 
of France. But as there was no mention made in the proposi- 
tions about the restoration of the King, the allies refused to 
treat until Bonaparte should first be delivered up to them. 

Bonaparte had demanded of Wellington and Blucher, pass- 
ports for quitting France ; and on being refused, the govern- 
ment commission conveyed him to Rochefort, where he was to 
embark on board a frigate and go to America. But Captain 
Maitland, who was cruising off that port with an English ves- 
sel, prevented him from leaving the place unless he would sur- 
render to the English, on which condition he promised to 
guarantee his life. The danger becoming every day more 
pressing, he at length saw himself compelled to submit. The 
Bellerophon, with Bonaparte on board, arrived in Torbay (July 
24,) but the English government would not permit the General 
to set foot on land. By a convention signed by the allies at 
Paris (Aug. 2,) England took upon herself the charge of keep- 
ing guard over him at St. Helena. He was accordingly trans- 
ported to that island, where he remained till his death, which 
happened May 5th, 1821. 

After the battle of the 18th June, Wellington and Blucher 



566 CHAPTER XII. 

marched immediately to Paris, as did also the army of Schwart- 
zenberg by way of Nancy. Davoust had joined the fugitives ; 
and as Grouchy had had the good fortune to save his division, they 
were enabled to form a new army of 60,000 men, which made 
some attempts to defend Paris. Several engagements took place 
at Sevres and Issy ; after which Marshal Davoust announced to 
the two Field-Marshals that Paris was on the point of surren- 
dering. A capitulation was signed at St. Cloud (July 3,) and 
the French army retired behind the Loire. 

The allies occupied Paris on the 7th July, and Louis XVIII 
entered on the following day. Within two days after, the Allied 
Sovereigns arrived. A decree of 24th July declared twenty- 
nine individuals, named in 1814, unworthy of their country, 
as having sat in the Chamber of Bonaparte, and sworn the ban- 
ishment of the Bourbons. Nineteen persons accused of having 
betrayed the King before the 23d March, were remitted to the 
tribunals ; thirty-eight other individuals were ordered to quit 
Paris. These latter were in general relapsed regicides, that is, 
persons who, after having obtained pardon in 1814, had, in 1815; 
signed the banishment of the Bourbons ; for the King never 
broke his word of honour given to the primary regicides, to 
leave them to the remonstrances of their own conscience. Some 
months after (Jan. 12, 1816,) the decree of July 24th was 
changed into a law ; with this modification, that the relapsed 
regicides were to be exiled from the soil of France. Of the in- 
dividuals arraigned before the tribunals, two only were executed. 
Marshal Ney and Colonel Labedoyere ; a third (Lavalette,) was 
saved by the courage of his wife. The clemency of the King 
threw a veil over all other crimes. 

The army of the Loire submitted to the King ; but the war 
continued, nevertheless, for some time on the frontiers of France, 
as it was a part of the plan of the allies to occupy all the for- 
tresses ; and the greater part of the commandants refused to re- 
ceive them. The allies were at length convinced, that in order 
to secure the tranquillity of France, it was necessary to take 
more vigorous measures than they had done in 1814 ; but it 
was not until the month of September that their plan was suf- 
ficiently matured to enable them to open negotiations with France. 
They had many difficulties to encounter ; and the treaty be- 
tween France and the Allies was not signed until the 20th No- 
vember. According to that treaty, France made several terri- 
torial cessions to the Netherlands, Prussia, Austria, Bavaria. 
Switzerland, and the King of Sardinia. 

It was agreed, that France should pay to the allies a pecuni- 
ary indemnity of seven hundred millions of francs ; that 150,000 



PERIOD IX. A. D. 1810 — 1815. 567 

of the allied troops should occupy certain places in France for 
6ve years ; and that they should be paid and maintained by 
France. By an additional article, they engaged reciprocally to 
concert measures for obtaining the entire and final abolition of 
the slave trade. 

The same day, Austria, Great Britain, Prussia and Russia, 
concluded an alliance for the following purposes: — (1.) The 
maintenance of the treaties and conventions which had just been 
concluded: And, (2.) The perpetual exclusion of Napoleon Bo- 
naparte and his family from the sovereignty of France ; the 
maintenance of tranquillity in that country ; and the suppression 
of revolutionary principles, so that they might never again dis- 
tract France, or threaten the repose of Europe. For this two- 
fold object, the allies agreed to furnish their contingents as de- 
termined by the alliance of Chaumont ; finally, they agreed to 
have another personal conference in the course of the year 1818. 

Prior to this quadruple alliance which, by securing the main- 
tenance of the Bourbon dynasty on the throne of France, forms 
one of the bases of the new political system of Europe, the Em- 
perors of Austria and Russia, and the King of Prussia, signed 
at Paris (Sept. 26,) an Act, known by the name of the Holy 
Alliance, -which, forms the second basis of the same system. The 
real object of this alliance was doubtless a mutual guarantee 
against any encroachments which might be made on their sov- 
ereign power ; to disguise this, it set forth their firm determina- 
tion to take no other rule for their conduct than the precepts of 
the Christian religion. They promised to continue in the in- 
dissoluble bonds of brotherly union, and to be ready on all occa- 
sions, and in all places, to succour and assist each other — to 
consider themselves but as members of the same Christian na- 
tion, and as delegated by Providence to govern three branches 
of the same family ; and finally, to receive into the same alliance 
all other powers who were willing to profess the same principles 
which had dictated that act. All the Christian powers in Eu- 
rope acceded to the treaties and conventions of the 20th Novem- 
ber 1815, except Sweden, who had taken no share in the war. 
They all entered into the Holy Alliance, except the King of 
Great Britain, who, while he fully sanctioned the principles set 
forth in that Act, was prevented from signing it, because, accord- 
ing to the constitutional custom of England, the Sovereign signs 
nothing without the countersigning of a responsible minister. 

Here it will be necessary briefly to point out the more impor 
tant events which happened since 1811 in the other European 
States, and the changes which were produced by the Congress 
of Vienna. 



568 CHAPTER Xlt. 

Portugal seemed destined to be nothing more in future than 
a dependency of Brazil, in a political point of view, as she al- 
ready was o^ England with respect to agriculture, industry, and 
commerce. The latter power attached so great an importance 
to the abolition of the slave trade, that by a treaty signed during 
the conferences at Vienna, she had purchased the effective co- 
operation of Portugal in this measure, by giving up all the ad- 
vantages which she had reserved to herself by the treaty of Rio 
Janeiro of February 19th 1810, which she consented to annul ; 
nevertheless, Portugal only prohibited her subjects conditionally 
from carrying on the slave trade in that part of Africa lying to 
the north of the Equator. 

In Spain, the Extraordinary Cortes then assembled at Cadiz, 
after having published a decree, January 1, 1811, importing that 
they could make no treaty with France until the King enjoyed 
full liberty, and that he could not be regarded as at liberty until 
he had taken the constitutional oath, finished the work which 
they alleged had been intrusted to their hands. Their constitu- 
tion, which was founded on the principle of the sovereignty of 
the people, intrusted the legislative power to a popular assembly, 
and the execution of the laws to a functionary with limited au- 
thority, decorated with the title of a King, was published on the 
18th of March 1812. In violation of historic truth, it was an- 
nounced to the world as the genuine ancient constitution of Spain. 
The Cortes terminated their session on the 20th September 
1813. The new or ordinary Cortes, convened in the constitu- 
tional form at the rate of one deputy for every 70,000 inhabitants, 
without distinction of fortune or estate, transferred their sitting 
to Madrid towards the end of the year. It was this extraordi- 
nary meeting of the Cortes that concluded a treaty of friendship 
and alliance (July 28, 1813) with the Emperor of Russia at 
Weliki-Louki, where he had then his head-quarters. Alexan- 
ut* ♦here acknowledged the Cortes and their constitution. That 
acknowledgment was extremely simple. Alexander could no» 
treat except with the government then established. That gov- 
ernment acted in the name of Ferdinand VII., and their acts 
were to be regarded as legitimate so long as that prince had not 
disavowed them. The Emperor of Russia had neither the will 
nor the power to lend his sanction to an order of things which 
had not the approbation of a King, in the full enjoyment of lib- 
erty It was in this same sense that the King of Prussia enter- 
ed into an alliance with the Spanish government, by a treaty 
which was signed at Basle (Jan. 20, 1814.) 

After returning from the campaign of 1813, Bonaparte con- 
sidering Spain as^lost, resolved to set Ferdinand VII. at liberty , 



PERIOD IX. A. D. 1810—1815. 569 

but in the hope of turning that tardy act of justice to his advan- 
tage by making that prince his friend, he represented Spain as 
overrun with Jacobinism, which was labouring to overturn the 
throne, and to substitute a republic in its place ; and he accused 
England as having favoured that project. Ferdinand VII. de- 
manded that a deputation of the Regency should be admitted to 
a personal interview with him, who might inform him as to the 
real state of matters. Bonaparte, who executed with despatch 
whatever he had once resolved, found this mode of proceeding 
too slow. He empowered M. de la Foret, whom he had sent to 
Valencay to conclude a treaty with his captive, by which the 
latter was acknowledged King of Spain ; and promised, on his 
part, to cause the English troops to evacuate the whole of that 
kingdom. 

Ferdinand VII. sent his minister, the Duke of San Carlos, to 
Madrid, for the ostensible purpose of communicating that treaty 
to the Regency, but in reality to take cognizance of the state of 
affairs. The Regency refused to acknowledge the treaty of 
Valencay, because the King was not at liberty. Bonaparte being 
apprized of this difficulty, immediately released Ferdinand (Mar. 
7, 1814.) He set out on his return to his dominions, but per- 
formed his journey slowly, that he might have leisure to obtain 
personal information, as to the spirit which reigned among the 
Spaniards. He was soon convinced, that the people, attached 
to their religion, and to the family of their lawful prince, were 
very indifferent about the constitution of the Cortes, and that 
that assembly enjoyed very little influence or authority. Sixty 
members of the Cortes had even protested against an Act which, 
by degrading the Royal Dignity, was preparing the way for es- 
tablishing a democracy. On his arrival at Valencia, Ferdinand 
abrogated the constitution of 1812, and directed his course to- 
wards Madrid, which he entered on the 17th May. The people 
every where expressed their attachment to a prince, whose ar- 
rival they hailed as the return of justice and order ; though it 
is foreign to our purpose to narrate why that hope has not been 
realized. 

Great Britain was the power which acted the most conspicuous 
part during the era of which we have given the preceding his- 
torical sketch. The fortitude and perseverance with which she 
had prosecuted her system of policy, after the breaking of the 
peace of Amiens, was crowned with the most complete success ; 
and the plan conceived by Mr. Pitt, but which that great states- 
man had despaired ever to see carried into execution, became 
the corner-stone of the future policy of Europe. Great Britain 
wa.s the mainspring of the alliance, which in 1813 undertook the 



570 CHAPTER xn. 

deliverance of Europe. She made the most extraordinary effjrts 
in raising armies, and granting supplies for maintaining the 
troops of the Continental nations. 

A mental calamity, with which George III. had been afflicted 
towards the end of the year 1810, obliged the Parliament to 
establish a regency. That important charge belonged of right 
to the presumptive heir to the crown ; but as the ministry were 
apprehensive that the Prince of Wales might in some respects 
change the system of the existing Government, the Parliament 
passed an Act (Dec. 31,) which restricted the authority of the 
Regent to one year. The Prince Regent submitted to these 
modifications. He exercised the regency at first with a limited 
power ; but, after the year 1812, when the prospects of his Ma- 
jesty's recovery were considerably diminished, he continued to 
exercise the Royal authority until his father's death, which hap- 
pened January 29, 1820, when the Prince then assumed the 
title of George IV. The Regent found the kingdom at war with 
Russia and Sweden ; but it was only in appearance, and without 
effective hostilities. Lord Castlereagh, who, since the year 
1812, had been at the head of foreign affairs, listened with eager- 
ness to the first advances which these two powers made towards 
a mutual accommodation. Peace was signed at Orebro (July 
12,) first with Sweden, and a few days after with Russia. The 
former, in indirect terms, abandoned the principles of the armed 
neutrality of the North. We shall have occasion hereafter to 
revert to the stipulations of the treaty signed with Russia. 

She was now assailed by a new enemy. A misunderstand- 
ing had existed for years, between Great Britain and the United 
States of America, in consequence of the various restrictions 
she had imposed upon the commerce of Neutrals, the humilia- 
ting conditions to which she wished to subject it, and the im- 
pressment of seamen. The Government of the United States 
had sought by various retaliatory measures, to operate upon her 
interests and induce her to abandon her system of arbitrary do- 
minion over the great highway of nations. From 1806 to 1812 
the pacific disposition of the American Government was mani- 
fested by the several expedients of Non-Importation, Embargo, 
and Non-Intercourse, to which they had resorted, to prevent an 
open rupture, but as none of these resulted in an acknowledg- 
ment of her rights on the part of Great Britain, an appeal was 
made at last to the Ultima ratio Regum. On the 18th of June, 
1812, an Act of Congress was passed, declaring War against 
Great Britain ; the reasons for this measure, as stated in the 
President's manifesto, were " The impressment of American 
seamen by the British, the blockade of her enemies' ports sup 



PERIOD IX. A. D. 1810 — 1815. 571 

ported by no adequate force, in consequence of which the Ame- 
rican commerce had been plundered in every sea, and the 
British Orders in Council." 

The remoteness of the two contending nations from each 
other, rendered it impossible for them to bring together great 
armies to meet in a general conflict. On the one side, the Ca- 
nadas were attacked by the Americans in many points with 
various success, and on the other, the cities and settlements 
along the coast of the Atlantic, were subjected to constant an- 
noyance and depredation from the British maritime forces. In 
acts of hostility of this kind, and in naval combats, the war 
was continued for nearly three years, during which abundant 
proofs were given that the veteran forces of Great Britain could 
claim no other superiority, than that of experience, either in 
officers or soldiers, to her enemy. Many of the land, and all 
the sea battles were fought with great skill and bravery, and 
gallantry by the Americans. The last important occurrence of 
the war, was the battle of New Orleans, where the American 
forces, under the command of their heroic leader General Jack- 
son, gained a brilliant victory. 

The situation of Europe was now so entirely changed, that 
che grievances of which America had complained, and for the 
redress of which she had fought, must naturally cease, and as 
neither party deemed it expedient to continue the war for ab- 
stract rights, a peace was settled at Ghent, between the pleni- 
potentiaries of the two nations, Dec. 24th, 1814, which restored 
friendship and amity, without settling any of the great points in 
dispute which had induced a resort to arms. 

The financial system of Great Britain underwent an essen- 
tial alteration, by the adoption of a plan presented by Mr. Van- 
sittart. Chancellor of the Exchequer, introducing certain modi- 
fications relative to the accumulation of the sinking fund. The 
expenditure of the government in 1815, amounted to 77,337 ,475Z. 
sterling, of which Ireland cost 8,651,335Z. sterling. The inter- 
est of the national debt amounted to 36,607,128?. sterling, of 
which 13,182,510Z. were applied to the sinking fund. Great 
Britain paid to the States of the Continent, in 1813, 11,400,000Z. 
sterling, under the name of subsidies ; 24,107 ships, and 
105,030 seamen, were employed in commerce. In 1814, these 
numbers were augmented one- seventh more. At this latter pe- 
riod, their navy consisted of 1044 ships of war, 100,000 sailors, 
and 32,600 marines ; the land forces amounted to 302,490 men, 
including 63,000 militia. 

Holland, and the other powers which had anciently formed 
the Republic of the United Provinces, after having been for 



572 CHAPTER xn. 

two years united to France, resumed once more their national 
independence. After the battle of Leipsic, when the corps ot 
Generals Bulow and Winzingerode approached that country, 
:he partisans of the Prince of Orange at the Hague, with M. de 
Hogendorps at their head, mounted the ancient cockade, estab- 
lished a provisional government (Nov. 17, 1813,) and invited the 
heir of the last Stadtholder to return and place himself at the head 
of the government. The French troops, finding themselves too 
weak to defend the country at once against the allies and 
against the inhabitants, quietly took their departure. The 
Prince of Orange having arrived at Amsterdam (Dec. 1,) was 
proclaimed Sovereign Prince of the Low Countries ; but he ac- 
cepted that dignity, on the condition that his power should be 
limited by a constitution; a plan of which he caused to be 
drawn up, which was adopted and sworn to in an assembly of 
the Representatives. 

During the sojourn of the allied sovereigns in England, it 
was agreed, that in order to oppose a barrier to France on the 
side of the North, Holland and Belgium should be united under 
the same government. A treaty, concluded at the same time 
m London (Aug. 13, 1814,) restored to the Dutch all their an- 
cient colonies, with the exception of the Cape of Good Hope, 
Essequibo, Berbice, and Demarara. According to the regula- 
tions of the treaty of Vienna, the bishopric of Liege, and the 
dutchy of Luxemburg were ceded to the sovereign prince, on 
condition that he should make a part of the Germanic Con- 
federation. It was at this time that he received the title of King 
of the Netherlands. By the second treaty of Paris, this new 
kingdom obtained a slight increase of territory, and a sum of 
sixty millions of francs, for constructing a line of fortresses. 
The superficial extent of that kingdom, with the dutchy of Lux- 
emburg, amounted to 1164 German square miles, with a popu- 
lation of 5,460,000 souls ; besides the population of its colonies, 
amounting to 1,726,000 inhabitants. 

Switzerland vainly flattered herself, when the allies approach- 
ed the Rhine, about the end of 1813, that they would gi-ant 
her the privilege of neutrality. The allied troops had to tra- 
verse the territory of the Confederacy, in order to enter France. 
The public opinion then declared itself, by annulling the Act 
of Mediation which united Switzerland to France ; but this 
opinion was not unanimous as to the future constitution of the 
country. Of the thirteen ancient cantons, eight concluded a 
Confederation, on the principle which granted an equality of 
rights to every component part of the union ; and to this the 
new cantons gave in their adherence. Berne, Friburg, and 



PERIOD TX. A. D, ISIO— 1S15. 573 

Underwalden, refused to take a part in it. The Orisons re- 
established their ancient form of government. The interven- 
tion of foreign powers quashed the civil war with which that 
country was threatened ; and, after many difficulties, a new Con- 
federation of the nineteen cantons was signed at Zurich (Sep*- 
S, 1814.) There still remained, however, several litigated 
points to be decided, which were settled by the Congress of Vi- 
enna, who declared that the perpetual neutrality of Switzerland 
should be acknowledged by all the other powers ; and that the 
Valais, the territory of Geneva, and the principality of Neuf- 
chatel, should make a part of the Confederation, as three addi- 
tional cantons. The Swiss States having acceded to this de- 
claration (May 27, 1815,) it was renewed, confirmed, and 
sanctioned by the Allied Powers, in a second declaration signed 
at Paris (Nov. 20.) 

In consequence of a convention concluded at Turin v/ith 
Prince Borghese, Governor-General of the French provinces 
beyond the Alps, Field-Marshal Bellegarde had taken posses- 
sion of Piedmont in the name of the King of Sardinia. Soon 
after, Victor Emanuel took the reins of government into his 
own hands. By the first peace of Paris, he recovered Nice, 
and about two-thirds of Savoy. A secret article of that treaty 
secured him the possession of the State of Genoa, which was 
confirmed by the treaty of Vienna ; but he ceded to the canton 
of Geneva, certain districts in Savoy. The second peace of 
Paris restored him that part of the province which had been 
given to France in 1814. The Sardinian monarchy thus com- 
prehended an extent of 1277 German square miles, with 3,700,000 
inhabitants. 

The convention of Fontainbleau had disposed of the dutchies 
of Placentia, Parma and Guastalla, in favour of the Archdutchess 
Maria Louisa, and her son Napoleon. This disposition was 
keenly opposed at Vienna by the House of Bourbon, who es- 
poused the interest of the young King of Etruria, the lawful 
heir to these estates. Nevertheless the Congress of Vienna ad- 
judged the States of Parma to the Archdutchess, without making 
mention of her son, or deciding the question as to their rever- 
sion ; a point which was not determined till the treaty of Paris 
of June 10, 1817, between Austria and Spain. After the death 
of the Archdutchess, the States of Parma are to pass to the 
Queen-Dowager of Etruria and her son. They contain about 
102 German square miles, and 380,000 inhabitants. 

The Archduke Francis, the heir of Hercules III,, the last 
Duke of Modena of the House of Este, was restored to the 
dutchy of Modena and its appurtenances, about the beginning 



574 CHAPTER Xll. 

of 1814. The whole comprehends a surface of 96 German 
square miles, with 388,000 inhabitants. 

According to an article of the treaty of Vienna, Lucca, un- 
der the title of a dutchy, was given up, not to the young King 
of Etruria, the lawful heir of the States of Parma, but to his 
tnother, and her descendants in the male line. Besides, the 
Kmperor and the Grand Duke of Tuscany were bound to pay 
her a supplementary annuity of 500,000 francs until the death 
of the Archdutchess Maria Louisa, when the Dutchess of Lucca, 
or her heirs, are to have the States of Parma ; and the dutchy 
of Lucca is to devolve to the Grand Duke of Tuscany, on con- 
dition of ceding to the Duke of Modena certain districts con- 
tiguous to his estates. The dutchy of Lucca is the most popu- 
lous country in Europe. It contains about 137,500 inhabitants 
within 19|^ German square miles. 

The grand dutchy of Tuscany, which Murat's troops had oc- 
cupied about the beginning of the year 1814, was restored to 
Its lawful sovereign, the Archduke Ferdinand III. (May 1,) 
who then gave up the Principality of Wurtzburg to the King of 
Bavaria. By the treaty of Vienna, that prince obtained the 
j State of Presidi, part of the island of Elba, and the Imperial 
■ fiefs included in these States ; containing 395 German square 
miles, with a population of 1,178,000 souls. The property of 
Piombino was restored to the family of Buoncompagni, whom 
Bonaparte had dispossessed. The Grand Duke is to succeed 
to the dutchy of Lucca ; but he must then give up his territo- 
ries in Bohemia to his brother the Emperor, which are very 
considerable, and destined for the young Duke of Reichstadt, 
son of the Archdutchess Maria Louisa. 

Bonaparte having found it impossible to overcome the per- 
severance of Pius VII., had set him at liberty about the begin- 
ning of the year 1814. The Sovereign Pontiff returned to his 
Estates amidst the general acclamations of the people, and re- 
stored every thing to the footing in which they had been before 
the usurpation of the French. Nobody was molested on the score 
of his political conduct. The Order of the Jesuits, suppressed in 
1772, was restored by a Bull, as a necessary barrier to oppose 
the doctrines of the Revolution. The Congress of Vienna re- 
stored to the Sovereign Pontiff the Marches and Legatines, 
with the exception of a portion of territory situated to the north 
of the Po, which was annexed to the kingdom of Venetian 
Lombardy. The Ecclesiastical States at present contain a sur- 
face of 714 German square miles, and a population of 2,424,150. 

The extravagant conduct of Murat, promoted the restoration 
of the Bourbons to the throne of Naples. This was effected 



PERIOD IX. A. D. 1810—1815. 575 

by the expedition which Austria had despatched in 1815 against 
Murat, in consequence of the alliance offensive and defensive 
which that Court had concluded at Vienna with Ferdinand IV. 
(April 29, 1815,) who made his entry into Naples on the 17th 
June. A short time after, Murat, at the head of a small band 
of adventurers, thought of imitating the example of his brother- 
in-law. He landed at Pizzo, in Calabria (Oct. 9,) where he 
hoped to be welcomed by his former adherents ; but the peasantry 
combined against him ; he was arrested, tried by a court-martial, 
and shot (Oct. 10.) The kingdom of the Two Sicilies has an ex- 
tent of 2,034 German square miles, and 6,600,000 inhabitants. 

After Ferdinand IV. had retired into Sicily, that Island was 
put under the protection of the English, who had there an army 
of 15,000 men, with a considerable fleet. General Lord Ben- 
tinck, who commanded the English troops, used all his influence 
to introduce the British constitution into that island. The Queen, 
who was at the head of the opposite party, was obliged to leave 
her family. From that moment the English remained masters 
of Palermo. But after the first peace of Paris, Ferdinand IV. 
resumed the reins of government ; and before embarking for 
Naples, he annulled the constitution of 1812. 

Corfu, the only one of the Ionian islands which was not yet 
in the power of the English, was given up to them by the Con- 
vention of Paris (April 23, 1S14.) The fate of these islands was 
decided by a treaty concluded at the same place between Aus- 
tria and Great Britain, Prussia and Russia. They were com- 
bined into a free and independent State (Nov. 5,) under the 
name of the United States of the Ionian Islands, and placed 
under the immediate and exclusive protection of Great Britain. 

By the events of the years 1813 and 1814, the House of Aus- 
tria gained possession of all that belonged to her in Italy, either 
before or in consequence of the peace of Campo Formio. A 
small portion of Ferrara to the north of the Po was ceded to her, 
as were the Valteline, Bormio, Chiavenna, and the ancient re- 
public of Ragusa. The Emperor constituted all these posses- 
sions into a separate and particular State, under the title of the 
Kingdom of Venetian Lombardy. Independently of these, Aus- 
tria recovered the Illyrian provinces, of which she also formed a 
distinct kingdom. By a treaty signed at Vienna with Russia, 
she likewise gained possession of the part of eastern Galicia 
which she had ceded to Alexander in 1809, and the exclusive 
property of Wieliczka, which was then divided between her and 
the dutchy of Warsaw. The Austrian monarchy, in its present 
state, contains a surface of 12,000 German square miles, ^^d a 
population of twenty-nine millions. 



576 CHAPTER XII. 

It was a more difficult matter to reorganize the monarchy of 
Prussia. We have mentioned the negotiations, in consequence 
of which she acquired about a half of the kingdom of Saxony. 
The Congress of Vienna restored to her not only a part of an- 
cient Prussia, now called the Grand Dutchy of Posnania, and 
all the other possessions which she had lost by the convention 
of Vienna, (Dec. 15, 1S05,) and the peace of Tilsit (with the ex- 
ception of Bialystock, Anspach, Baireuth, Westfriesland, and 
Hildesheim,) but also a considerable territory on the left bank of 
the Rhine, the Grand Dutchy of Berg, the Dutchy of Westpha 
lia, Swedish Pomerania, and the sovereignty of several other 
principalities and counties. These territorial arrangements 
were not concluded till 1819. The Prussian monarchy contains 
a surface of 4882 German square miles, and a population of 
nearly 11 millions. 

The sovereign princes and free cities of Germany were uni- 
ted by an Act signed at Vienna, under the name of the Germanic 
Confederation. All the members of the Confederacy enjoy 
full sovereignty, and all take part in the deliberations of the 
Diet in matters relating to the general interests of the Union. 
The thirty-nine members, however, in ordinary cases, have only 
seventeen votes ; eleven of the States have each a vote, while 
six collective votes belong to the other twenty-eight. Never- 
theless, in constitutional questions, the thirty-nine members have 
in all seventy votes ; each State having at least one, and several 
of them two, three, and four votes. The members have the 
right of concluding every kind of alliance, provided these are 
not directed against the safety of the Union or of its constituent 
members. The equality of civil and religious rights was secured 
to all who professed the Christian religion. 

Various States, forming the Germanic Confederation, under- 
went certain changes in their territorial possessions ; but the 
negotiations by which they were definitively settled did not lake 
place till 1819. The kingdom of Bavaria received indemnity 
for the various restitutions which had been made to the Court 
of Vienna. Its superficial extent amounts to 1505 square miles, 
and 3,300,000 inhabitants. The grand dutchy of Hesse-Darm- 
stadt obtained considerable augmentations on the left bank of 
the Rhine, and has a surface of 214 German square miles, and 
six hundred thousand inhabitants. The Grand Duke of Olden- 
burg, the Duke of Saxe Cobourg, the Landgrave of Hesse- 
Homberg, and the House of Orange-Nassau, obtained territorial 
indemnities on the Rhine. The Elector of Hesse-Cassel obtained 
the grand dutchy of Fulda ; his dominions consisted of 200 Ger- 
.•nan "Square miles, and 540,000 inhabitants. The King of 




Battle of Waterloo ; contest of the 42d Regiment for the 
French Eagles. P. 565. 




Battle of Waterloo. P. 565. 



PERIOD IX. A. D. lyiO — 1815. 577 

Hanover lost Lauenburg, and obtained Hildesheim and Wesf- 
fnesland. That kingdom contains 700 German square miles, 
and one million three hundred thousand inhabitants. The grami 
dutchy of Saxe-Weimar, with its additional districts, contains 66 
German square miles, and one hundred and ninety-three thou- 
sand inhabitants. 

Such is the composition of the German Confederation, an 
association Avhich was formed, as we have mentioned, by the 
act of June 8th 1815. In 1820, it was declared a fundamental 
law of the Union. 

As Russia and Austria were not likely to come to an agree- 
ment, as to the possession of the city of Cracow, the former de- 
manding it as an appurtenance of the ci-divant dutchy of Warsaw, 
while the latter claimed it as having been deprived of it by the 
peace of Schoenbrun ; it Avas agreed by the treaty of Vienna 
(May 13, 1815,) that that city, with the territory which had been 
assigned it, should form an independent and neutral Republic, 
under the protection of Austria, Prussia, and Russia. Besides 
the city of Cracow, a district containing eight or nine thousand 
inhabitants was dismembered from the dutchy of Warsaw, which 
was conferred on Prussia, under the title of the Grand Dutchy 
of Posnania. The remainder was united to the Empire of Rus- 
sia as a distinct State, under the name of the Kingdom of Poland, 
having its own constitution and a separate administration. That 
State contained 2215 German square miles, with a population 
of two millions and a half. 

We have already observed, by what fatal mischance Denmark 
had been dragged into the war of Napoleon against the allies. 
The treaty of peace at Kiel, (Jan. 14, 1814,) deprived her of 
Norway, in lieu of which she obtained the paltry compensation 
of Swedish Pomerania ; and even that acquisition proved nuga- 
tory. According to arrangements agreed on at Vienna with 
Prussia, the King of Denmark accepted the dutchy of Lauen- 
burg instead of Pomerania, which was abandoned to Prussia. 
The Danish monarchy thus lost one-third of its subjects, and 
was reduced to an extent, including Iceland, of 2420 German 
square miles, and 1,700,000 inhabitants. 

The Norwegians, who cherished a national hatred against the 
Swedes, refused to submit to their destiny. They chose for their 
King Prince Christian Frederic, who was their Governor-Gene- 
ral and heir to the throne of Denmark (May 17, 1814,) and they 
published a representative constitution at Eidswold. The King, 
and the Prince Royal of Sweden, marched at the head of an 
army to reduce them to submission. After some hostile manoeu- 
vres, the Prince of Denmark resigned the sovereignty, by a con- 

37 



578 CHAPTER XII. 

vention which was signed at Moss (Aug. 16.) The National 
A^^sembly convened at Christiana (Oct. 20,) decreed the union 
of Norway to the crown of Sweden, as an independent kingdom, 
binder one monarchy, and with a representative constitution. 
They adopted the order of succession as established in Sweden 
\n 1809. Charles XIII. was proclaimed King of Norway (No\ , 
4 ;) and the relations between Sweden and Norway were sealed, 
by an act signed between the two kingdoms (July 31, 1815.) By 
the treaty of Vienna, Sweden ceded to Prussia her part of Po- 
merania, and thus was separated from Germany, of which she 
had been a constituent member since the time of Gustavus Adol- 
phus. The Swedish monarchy contains an extent of 16,150 
German square miles, with 3,330,000 inhabitants. 

Russia acted so conspicuous a part during the period of which 
we have spoken, that we can scarcely mention any event of 
general interest in which she was not concerned. She was at 
war with Great Britain, Turkey, and Persia, when Bonaparte 
commenced hostilities against her in 1811. The Russians acted 
on the defensive against the Turks ; Prince Kutusoff, who had 
the command, having been obliged to send five divisions of his 
army into Poland, caused Silistria to be demolished, preserving 
only Rudschuk on the right bank of the Danube. The indolent 
Jusuff Pacha, who had never stirred from his camp at Schumla 
was replaced by Achmet Aga, an active and enterprising Gene- 
E<ff, who sent for a reinforcement of 35,000 men, mostly composed 
of excellent cavalry, and supported by a formidable artillery 
served by French officers. Achmet marched against KutusofF 
and their first encounter took place two leagues from Rudschuk 
(July 4.) Eight thousand Russians, who were opposed to the 
vanguard of the Ottomans, under the command of Ali Pacha, 
were driven back to their entrenchments. Two days after the 
Grand Vizier attacked the Russian entrenchments and dislodged 
the troops, who threw themselves into Rudschuk. It was chiefly 
the infantry of the Russians who suffered in that battle, owing 
to the superiority of the Turkish cavalry, who would have cut 
them to pieces, but for a bold manosuvre of Count Langeron, 
who sallied from Rudschuk, at the head of the garrison, and pro- 
tected the fugitives. The Grand Vizier advanced under the 
very cannon of the fortress. He attempted three times in one 
day to carry it by force, but was repulsed each time (July 9.) 
During the following night the Russians quitted Rudschuk and 
passed the Danube. But the Turks having got intelligence, 
entered the town, and prevented them from carrying off all their 
artillery and ammunition. 

The army of Kutusoff, weakened by disease was unable w 



PERIOD IX. A. D. 1810 — 1615. 579 

orevenl the Grand Vizier from taking possession of the islands 
of the Danube, where they constructed bridges, by means of 
which they made frequent incursions into Wallachia. A body 
of 15,000 troops, commanded by Ismael Bey, took up the same 
post on the right bank, so that the Grand Vizier passed the river 
at the head of the main body of the forces (Aug. 3.) But the 
face of affairs soon changed. General Ouwaroff' having brought 
a reinforcement of 50,000 men to Kutusoff*, the latter detached 
MarkofT, with a considerable body, who passed to the right bank 
of the Danube, marched in all haste against the Turkish reserve 
before Rudschuk, seized their camp, and thus cut off" the retreat 
of the Grand Vizier. The latter found means to enter Rudschuk 
in a small bark, leaving his army in Wallachia, under the com- 
mand of Seraskier Tchaban-Oglou, who was blockaded at Slo- 
bosia by Kutusoff", and after being reduced to 25,000 men, they 
were obliged to capitulate and lay down their arms (Dec. 8.) 

The Grand Vizier then demanded a suspension of arms, 
which was signed at Guirdesov. Negotiations were opened at 
Bucharest, but the Turks refused for a long time to make the 
smallest cession of territory. At length the mediation of Eng- 
land, Sweden, and Russia, overcame the obstinacy of the Divan, 
and peace was signed (May 28, 1812.) The Porte ceded to 
Russia about one-third of Moldavia, as far as the Pruth, the for- 
tresses of Choczin and Bender, and the whole of Bessarabia, 
with Ismael and Kilia ; an amnesty was granted to the Servians. 

Although England had appeared at Bucharest as a mediating 
power, nevertheless her treaty of peace with Russia was not de- 
finitively signed, although actual hostilities had long ceased be- 
tween the two powers. The treaty was at length concluded at 
Orebro (July 18,) the stipulations of which are not all known. 
The peace with Persia was signed in the Russian camp, near 
the river Seiwa, under the mediation of England, and confirmed 
the following year at Teflis (Sept. 15, 1814.) Persia ceded to 
Russia Daghistan, Shirvan, Derbent, and in general the whole 
western coast of the Caspian Sea, renounced her pretensions on 
Georgia, Imirete, Guriel, and Mingrelia, and recognised the ex- 
clusive right of Russia to the navigation of the Caspian Sea. 

At the Congress of Vienna the Emperor of Russia had ob- 
tained the kingdom of Poland, as we have already noticed. In- 
dependently of that acquisition, the Russian Empire had an 
extent of 345,000 German square miles, 80,000 of which are in 
Europe, the population of which amounts to thirty-eight mil- 
lions. The population of the whole Empire is estimated at forty- 
six millions. 

A concurrence of fortunate circumstances has saved the Otto- 



680 CHAPTER xn. 

man Empire from that ruin with which it has more than once 
been threatened, and for which the total dissolution of social 
order in the provinces has along time prepared the way. If it 
still survives these evils, its preservation is perhaps to be ascri- 
bed to that Holy Alliance which has sometimes been the object 
of terror to the Porte, he having been persuaded that that Chris- 
tian League was directed against Mahometanism. It is this 
suspicion, the offspring of ignorance and weakness, which at a 
recent date had nearly precipitated him into imprudent mea - 
sures. If the wisdom of his powerful neighbour had known, m 
these circumstances, to unite his own glory with the maintenance 
of public tranquillity, of which Europe stands so much in need, 
the Porte, enlightened as to his true interest by Austria, Great 
Britain, and his other allies, will feel that he cannot prolong his 
own existence, except by substituting the reign of justice, and 
the principles of humanity, to despotism and cruelty. 



▲. D. 1815 1830. — FEANCE. 



CHAPTER XIII. 

Frotn the Second Restoration of the Bourlons, A. D>. 1815, to 
the Revolution in Poland, A. D. 1830. 



France had undergone a complete change since the Revolu- 
tion, which the Bourbons, on their return could not understand. 
Their unfitness to reign over this people, was immediately per- 
ceived, and gave rise to a prevalent saying, that '* the Bourbons, 
in their misfortunes, had learned nothing, and had forgotten 
nothing.'* 

The open acknowledgment, made by Louis XVIII., that he 
owed his throne to the Prince Regent of England, was a dis- 
honor, and a source of deep mortification, to the pride of France ; 
and the country was farther humiliated, by the presence of the 
Allied troops, occupying two-thirds of its territory to enforce 
tranquillity. 

By the treaty of Paris,* concluded November 20th, 1815, be- 
tween Louis XVIII. and the three Allied powers, France was to 
pay 700 million francs, give up seventeen citadels for a pe- 
riod of three to five years, and support one hundred and fifty 
thousand foreign troops, within her territories ; besides satisfy- 
ing all public and private claims, to the countries belonging to 
the Allied sovereigns, and restoring the productions in the arts, 
and the treasures of literature, with which as spoils, Napoleon 
had enriched the capital. This last requisition was enforced, 
while the Allied troops were in possession of Paris. 

Richlieu, the new minister, signed this treaty in September, 
1815, which occasioned great dissatisfaction to the French na- 
tion. The King opened the new chamber, November, 4, 1816, 
with a speech which disclosed the unfavorable condition of 
France. 

February 5, 1817. The liberals and independents obtained 
the law of election ; and, on March 6, 1818, the recruiting law ; 
but were not successful in their attacks on the laws of excep- 
tion, which prevented the complete operation of the charter. 
The machinations of the ultras, led to troubles in Grenoble, In 

* See pages 28*9 oaa 289, vol. ii. 



582 CUAPTER XIII. 

1816, and in Lyons 1817. July, 1818, their intrigues were 
discovered, which were nothing less than to engage the Allies 
to assist them in abolishing the charter. The ministry then 
inclined towards the liberals, and national party. A loan of 24 
millions was required to effect the evacuation of the Allied troops 
stationed in France, in the autumn of 1818, which was deter- 
mined upon by the congress of Aix-la-Chapelle, October 9, 
1818 ; and for the payment of foreign claims for the expenses 
of the war, and claims of individuals. Here was a successful 
exhibition of French diplomacy : in these settlements, in the 
matter of liquidations, the payment of the debt acknowledged by 
the treaty of 1815, reduced from 1600 to 1390 millions was 
postponed till the year 1818 — when, in payment of these 1390 
millions, a rent of 16,040,000 francs, equivalent to a capital of 
275 million francs, was accepted. This was about a seventh 
part of the lawful claim ; and a rent of three millions was grant- 
ed, in a separate article, to satisfy the claims of British subjects. 
The remaining 280 millions were farther reduced at Aix-la-Cha- 
pelle, to 265 million francs. 

November 12. France was admitted into the Quadruple alii 
ance of the great European powers. The prime minister. Rich- 
lieu, declared himself against the existing mode of election, and 
against the operation of the constitutional system, which led to 
a division in the ministry, when in December, Decazes was vie- 
torious over the ultras, in the law of election, and liberal princi- 
ples. A new ministry was named by Louis XVIIL the third 
since 1815. The Marquis Dessoles was made president of the 
ministerial council, which was overthrown, Nov. 19, 1819 ; Des- 
soles, St. Cyr and Louis, the defenders of the charter, resigned. 
Decazes now became prime minister. In the controversy res- 
pecting the construction of the charter and the censorship of the 
press, Benjamin Constant, Comte, and Dunoyer, were writers 
for the liberals ; Chateaubriand, Bonald, and Fievee for the 
ultras. 

The session from 1819 to 1820, was one of continued conflict 
of the most violent kind; the influence of the royalists succeed- 
ed in excluding Gregoire from the chamber : Decazes, presi- 
dent of the ministry, attempted to follow a moderate course, by 
several judicious bills. In the midst of these agitations, Febru- 
ary 13, 1820, the Duke of Berry was assassinated. A new law 
of election, and two of exception were lost, and Decazes resign- 
ed. A fifth ministry, with Richlieu as president was formed, 
Feb. 20, 1820, The royalists gradually increased their powei 
and influence, mainly indebted after 1822, to the talents of 
Villele. 



A. D. 1815 1830. FRANCE. 583 

Attempts were made for continuing restrictions of the press, 
till the close of the session of 1826, and to impose further rep. 
irictions, which met with decided opposition, and ended in the 
resignation of the ministry, December 17, 1821, when a sixth 
Ministry was formed in which ultra-royalism was triumphant. 
The censorship of the press ceased February 5, 1822. 

A conspiracy in favor of young Napoleon, was discovered in 
1821, and the following year several revolts were projected in 
different garrisons. Villele, minister of finance, displayed 
great adroitness in the management of affairs, and was appoint- 
ed president of the ministry, having great influence over public 
opinion. The ultras were dissatisfied with his moderation ; he 
is represented to have perfectly seen that France could no longer 
be governed by an absolute monarchy. The most important 
events of the session of 1822, were relative to the new tariff, 
and the foreign policy in regard to Greece and Spain. The 
liberal party were defeated on the great question, whether 
France should by force suppress democratic principles in Spain 
On the 28th January, 1823, the King announced in the opening 
of the session, the march of an army of 100,000 French troops 
for Spain. This expedition evinced the determination of the 
fanatic party, to put down liberal principles, and restore Ferdi- 
nand to despotic power. In this attempt, they were but too suc- 
cessful. 

A Loan of 100 millions was required for the extraordinary 
expenses of 1823. The Spanish campaign of six months 
tended to strengthen legitimacy, and cost France 207,827,000 
francs. 

In 1824, the estimate of expenditure amounted to 900 mil- 
lions. This was owing to the payment by government of the 
clergy, now become dependent upon the state. The greatest 
efforts were now made by the ecclesiastics, to regain for the 
church its former splendor, in spite of the feelings and habits of 
the people. They wielded their immense power, in the most 
arbitrary and bigoted manner ; but with all their zeal, were un- 
able to check the diffusion of knowledge — and so far from re- 
tarding the march of liberty, they hastened the overthrow of 
despotism and bigotry, and eventually brought on their own 
downfall. 

Louis XVIII. died September 16, and was succeeded by his 
brother, Charles X. We have now hastily sketched the events 
during the reign of Louis XV III., enough to show the temper of 
the French people, and the obnoxious measures which tended 
to bring about a new revolution in France. 

Charles X. commenced his reign by a declaration of his inten- 



584 CHAPTER XIII. 

tions of confirming the charter. He appointed as a member of 
the ministerial council, the Duke d'Angouleme, and suppressed 
the censorship of the journals, Sept. 29. Appointed the Count 
de Clermont-Tonnere, minister of war. Villele gained the con- 
fidence of the King, by his prudent measures, while Chateau, 
briand proved, in the Journal des Debats, (his paper,) a power- 
ful and eloquent opponent. In the session of 1825, Villele was 
triumphant : a bill granting 1,000,000,000 francs in rents, as an 
indemnification to the emigrants, proved a source of great dis- 
satisfaction to the nation, which became opposed to the course 
now pursued. The civil list of the King was established at 
25,000,000 francs, annually, for life, and that of the royal fami- 
ly at 7,000,000. On the 29th May, the splendid coronation of 
Charles X. took place at Rheims, at which time he took the 
oath to govern according to the charter. In the session of 1826, 
thirty-one new peers were created to strengthen the ministry. 

In August, 1824, General Lafayette landed in New York, 
upon an invitation of James Monroe, President of the United 
States, and was received with the warmest expressions of grati- 
tude, a nation could bestow ; and passed through the twenty, 
four states of the union, with more them the splendor of a tri- 
umphal procession. He sailed hence, in the Brandywine, a 
United States ship, September 7, 1825, and arrived at Havre, 
where every demonstration of attachment and respect was shown 
him. The following particulars respecting the " Nation's Guest," 
on his return to France, in 1825, cannot fail to be interesting. 
It shows that the affectionate and enthusiastic welcome of him 
by his countrymen, on his return to France, and portrays the 
sullen hatred of the Bourbons to every thing that partook of 
liberty. At Rouen, the " Guest of the American people," the 
veteran defender of liberty in the two hemispheres, was honor- 
ed with a public dinner, accompanied by his family and friends. 
In the evening, a great concourse of citizens, among whom 
were many females, repaired to the house of M. Cabanon, where 
Lafayette appeared on the balcony, and the greatest tranquillity 
reigned. Notwithstanding the crowd, a serenade, given to the 
General, was heard with perfect silence. At this juncture there 
arrived, from two opposite directions, a detachment of the guard 
royal, and a detacliment of gendarmes. The former conduct- 
ed itself with moderation ; the latter proceeded to disperse the 
peaceable citizens, whose meeting had occasioned no distur- 
bance, and made a charge upon the populace, treating them as 
rioters ; when many were thrown down and murdered ; and the 
whole assembly was put to flight, by the sabres and bayonets of 
the gendarmes ; and by them many were arrested. To justify 



A. D. 1815 1830. FRANCE. 585 

this proceeding, the Prefect at Rouen issued, in a public journal, 
a note, in which he said, " That the citizens groaned to see the 
tranquilhty menaced by the presence of a man whose sad celeb- 
rity connects itself with the most disastrous period of the Revo- 
lution !" 

On the return of Lafayette to La Grange, the villagers united 
in a public festival on the occasion; and addresses were pre- 
sented although the government took every opportunity to pre- 
vent any demonstration of respect being shown to him. Not 
less than 6,000 persons assembled on this joyous occasion, to 
commemorate the return of him, wiiom they designated the 
"American Nation's (luest." 

The Jesuits commenced prosecutions against two of the libe- 
ral papers. This led to much hostility between the liberals and 
the royalists ; and soon after, a law against the Jesuits was at- 
tempted to be passed, and the liberty of the press was carried, 
April 27, 1827. The national guards of Paris, 45,000 in num. 
ber, were disbanded, a. measure highly obnoxious to the people. 
This was followed by a rigorous censorship of the press, (June 
24, 1827,) which tended still more to irritate the state of public 
feeling against the ministry. The papers of the opposition fre- 
quently appeared with whole columns blank. 

A war commenced this year with Algiers, said to have arisen 
from a controversy respecting a debt lor corn, purchased for the 
French government in 1739. The ministry dissolved the cham- 
ber which had still three years to run. In the new chamber, a 
majority was gained by the liberals ; out of 8,000 votes in Paris, 
only 1114 were on the ministerial side; the same decided result 
took place in the different depart/nents. This occasioned great 
joy in Paris, and led to some disasters : about fifty persons were 
killed by the gendarmes. By an ordinance of November 5, 
1827, seventy-six new peers were created. Of these scarcely 
any, Soult excepted, were entitled by services, to the honor. 
Three others were added, Jan. 4. 1828 — these were Villele, 
Peyronnet, and Corbiere. 

On opening the session, February 5, 1828, Charles X. con- 
gratulated the nation on the occasion of the victory of Navari- 
no. In 1828, the French troops rc'urned from Spain ; and in 
August, (shortly afterwards,) an expedition was fitted out for 
the delivery of Greece from Turkish thraldom. The command 
of the expedition was given to General Maison. The numbe? 
of troops amounted to 14,000. {See Revolution in Greece.) 

The appointments announced, August 9, 1829, were the foi. 
lowing : Prince Jules de Polignac, minister of foreign affairs ; 
M. Courvoisier, keeper of the seals, and minister \i( justice ; 



586 CHAPTER XIII. 

Count Bourmont, minister of war ; Admiral Rigny, minister of 
marine ; Count de la Bourdonnaye, minister of the interior ; 
Baron de Montbel, minister of ecclesiastical affairs and public 
instruction ; Count Chabrol de Crousol, minister of finance. 
Admiral Pugny declined the offered port folio, which was given 
to M. d'Haussez, Prefect of the Gironde. This was an ultra- 
royalist ministry. Bourmont had been a soldier under Napo- 
leon, declared for Louis XVIII. — again took office under Napo- 
ieon, and deserted him at the battle of Waterloo, fled to the 
Bourbons at Ghent, was elevated to the peerage, and entrusted 
with the command of the army of occupation in Spain, after the 
return of the Duke d'Angouleme. 

Prince Polignac was one of the old royalists, and was early 
attached to Charles X. He, with his brothers Armand, was 
implicated in Pichegru's conspiracy, and received the pardon 
of Napoleon. Since 1823, he had been ambassador at the British 
court, and his elevation was said to have been through Eng- 
lish influence, more especially that of the Duke of Wellington. 
He professed a great fondness for England ; but however this 
may be, certain it is, he was no favorite with the French peo- 
ple. The minister of the interior. La Bourdonnaye, had distin- 
guished himself for his violence, and active measures for the ul- 
tras. No sooner was the ministry formed, than La Bourdonnaye 
was disposed to dissolve the chamber, as Villele had done to 
secure a majority ; trusting for success, to the activity of the 
royalists, and the aid of the clergy. When this hazardous 
proposition was rejected. La Bourdonnaye resigned, and Polig- 
nac was made president of the ministerial council. Baron Mont- 
bel was transferred to the department of the interior, and Count 
G. de Rainville was made minister of ecclesiastical affairs. An 
ordinance to this effect was issued on the 17th November, 1829. 
Such was the organization of the ministry at the end of that 
year. 

The efforts of the Bourbons to build up aristocracy and abso- 
lute monarchy, had failed — their measures having had an oppo- 
site effect ; and the poverty of the nobles having impaired their 
former influence, they now followed instead of leading the nation. 
The French were now too much enlightened to suffer them- 
selves to be deprived of their privileges. The country was, at 
this time, in a state of prosperity. The struggle that followed, 
was for the protection of their liberties, and not the result of 
suffering and want. This noble regard for the cause of free- 
dom, gave new glory to France, and to liberty, a fresh impulse 
throughout the world. 

1830, March 2. The speech from the throne announced that 



A. L. 1815—1830. FRAKCE. 587 

war nad been commenced with Algiers, and ended with thesp 
words : " Peers of France, deputies of the departments, I do 
not doubt your co-operation in the good I desire to do. You 
will repel, with contempt, the perfidious insinuations which ma- 
levolence is busy in propagating. If guilty intrigues should 
throw any obstacles in the way of my government, which I can- 
not and will not anticipate, I should find force to overcome them, 
in my resolution to preserve the public peace ; in the confidence 
I have in the French nation, and in the love which they have 
always evinced for their kings." 

As soon as this speech was made public, the funds fell, and 
the ministers had a decided majority opposed to them in the 
chamber of deputies. Royer-CoUard was re-elected president. 
On the 18th, a deputation of the chamber presented an answer 
to the King's speech. This address respectfully but frankly 
informed him, " That a concurrence did not exist between the 
views of the government, and the wishes of the nation ; that the 
administration was actuated by a distrust of the nation ; and tha» 
the nation, on the other hand, was agitated with apprehension^, 
which would become fatal to its prosperity and repose." " Sire, 
(continued the address,) France does not wish for anarchy, any 
more than you wish for despotism." This was a firm and pru- 
dent warning here given to the King ; who, in reply expressed 
his regret, that the concurrence which he had a right to expect 
from the deputies, did not exist. He declared his resolutions 
were fixed, and that the ministers would make known his inten- 
tions. The answer of the peers to the King's speech, on the 
10th, was a mere echo of the same. Chateaubriand made a bold 
attack on the ministers. Both chambers were convoked for 
the 19th, when they were declared to be prorogued to the 1st 
of September of the same year — a measure that was immediately 
productive of great public excitement throughout France. Roy- 
alists and Jesuits blindly exulted in this measure ; while the 
liberal journals increased their activity, and boldly predicted 
the course of events that speedily followed. Prince Polignac 
and the ministry were contemned for their imbecility. In Paris, 
a society furnished the printing of journals, where they were 
destitute through the efforts of the government ; and in Brittany 
an association was formed, determined to refuse the payment of 
taxes, not regularly granted by the chamber of deputies. 

But it is now time to turn to the war with Algiers, a city that 
had long been the seat of the most extensive piracy. The main 
object, however, of the ministry in prosecuting this war, was 
evidently popularity. Knowing the inordinate fondness of the 
nation for military- glory, it was anticipated that the subjugation 



588 CHAPTEE XIII. 

of Algiers would establish Charles X. and his ministry in the 
affections of the people, and secure a favorable majority in the 
chamber. In this hope they were disappointed ; for though the 
success of the army was announced during the election, it did 
not silence the opposition : a strong majority being elected. 

The army, commanded by Count Bourmont, consisting of 
37,577 infantry, and 4,000 horse, embarked on the 10th of May, 
at Toulon. The fleet consisted of 97 vessels, of which eleven 
were ships of the line, and 24 frigates. On the 14th of June, 
the army began to disembark at Sidi Ferrajh, on the African 
COEist ; and on the 5th of the following month, Algiers surren- 
dered. This event was made known in Paris on the 9th of July, 
by a telegraphic despatch. The treasure found in Algiers 
amounted to 90,000,000* of francs in money, and 10,000,000 f 
in gold and silver bullion and plate ; besides about 25,000,000 :j. 
not in the inventory, stated subsequently in the Journal du 
Commerce, to be 43,000,000 francs. 

Having given very briefly the successful issue of the French 
arms, over barbarism in Africa, we now return to our narrativ*> 
of the events in France. 

The success attendant on the French arms in Africa, occa- 
sioned great exultation in France ; but it did not divert the pub- 
lic from struggling for their liberty, against a detested ministry. 

The chamber was dissolved on the 17th of May, by a royal 
ordinance, and new elections ordered ; and the two chambers 
convoked for August 3d. 

The elections for the new chamber took place in June and 
July. The opposition displayed great activity and talents, in 
this momentous struggle ; and it was soon seen, by men of intel- 
ligence, that a change of ministry would be the result. They, 
however, were determined not to yield, and had the infatuation, 
i-ather to violate the charter, and expose France to civil war, 
than to retire. The King appears to have been blinded by a 
bigoted priesthood, and the ministers utterly regardless of the 
sacred rights of the people, expressed by their representatives. 
In the new chamber 270 were liberals, 145 for ministers, and 
15 undecided. In consequence of this result, the ministry made 
a report to the King, July 26, on the dangers of a free press. 
In the chamber of deputies, convoked March 2d, there were 
221 members hostile to government, on which account the King 
had prorogued both chambers, and had appointed the 23d of June, 
and third of July, for the election of new members, to assemble 
on the third of August. The elections were not all finished, till 
the 19th of July ; before which time, it was sufficiently appa- 

* $16,655,000. t $1,874,100. i $8,058,630 



A. D. 1830. FRANCE. 589 

rent, how the elections would terminate. When the list was 
completed, the opposition, was found to have increased from 221. 
to 270. It will now be seen, how affairs stood in France between 
me crown and the people : the ministry represented the former, 
and the chamber of deputies the latter. The ministers whose 
auty it was to have withdrawn, resolved upon the mad project 
of eietting the voice of the nation, and the constitutional charter 
at defiance ; in other words, of annulling the late elections. This 
plan seems to have been arranged about the middle of July. It 
was subsequently stated on the trial of ministers, that these 
measures were concerted between the 10th and 15th of that 
month. M. Montbel in a pamphlet which he has published, says 
the ordinances were presented to the King, in a council held on 
the 21st. They were signed at the next council held on Sunday 
the 25th, the day previous to their public appearance. 

The report made to the King, signed by seven ministers and 
published at the same time with the ordinances, was intended 
to justify themselves for the course they had resolved upon. In 
this flimsy document they called for the suspension of the press, 
remarking, " At all epochs, the periodical press has only been, 
and from its nature must ever be, an instrument of disorder and 
sedition." 

By the first ordinance, the liberty of the press was suspended. 
By the second ordinance the chamber of deputies was dissolved. 
And a third ordinance abrogated the existing law of election 
itself, reducing the number of members from 430 to 258, and 
sweeping off" three-fourths of the former constituency, abolishing 
the ballot and nearly extinguishing the representative system. 
In defiance of these ordinances, the conductors of all the liberal 
journals determined to publish their papers. 

The only papers allowed by government to appear were the 
Moniteur Universal, Quotidienne, Gazette de France, and Dra- 
peau blanc. The seizure of the liberal journals on the morning 
of the 27th July, was the commencement of the revolutionary 
drama. These ordinances were nothing less than a determi- 
nation on the part of the crown to deprive the nation of its 
liberty, and to establish despotism. The audacious attempt 
however failed. Had the French ministry succeeded in silencing 
the press, and bringing the representation to a state of subser- 
viency, they might for a time perhaps have succeeded in their 
mad projects. Nothuag shows more strikingly the rashness and 
entire want of discernment of the ministry, at the time of which 
we are speaking, than the issuing of ordinances so obnoxious, 
without even anticipating resistsmce of £iny kind, much less a 
re\«lution. 



590 CHAFTEB XIII. 

h was on Sunday, the 25th of July, the fatal ordinances were 
signed by Charles the Tenth and his ministers, and at 11 P. M. 
M. Sauvo, principal editor of the Moniteur, received from 
Chautelauze, and Montbel, at the house of the former, the 
manuscript for publication on the following morning. As 
Sauvo glanced over the contents, Montbel remarked, he seemed 
agitated ; his reply was, *' God save the King, God save 
France." M. Montbel and Chantelauze answered, " we hope 
he will." At an early hour on Monday morning the 26th, the 
obnoxious ordinances appeared in the Moniteur, and Bulletin 
des Lois. The prefect of the Seine was astounded at seeing 
them, about 5 o'clock, not having apprehended any thing of 
the kind, nor does Marshal Marmont, appear to have had any 
knowledge of these measures : the first intimation he received 
of the fatal ordinance was by Komierowski, one of his aids, 
while he was breakfasting at St. Cloud. He exclaimed that it 
was not possible the report could be true. At half past seven, 
he set out for Paris, not having seen a newspaper till his arrival 
in the city. He then went to the Institute where he met his 
friend M. Arago — " Well," said he to him, " you perceive that 
things are proceeding as I had foreseen ; the fools have driven 
matters to extremities. You have only to mourn in your capa- 
city of a citizen and a good Frenchman : but how much greater 
cause have I to lament, who as a soldier shall perhaps be obliged 
to throw away my life for acts which I abhor, and for people 
who seem for a long time to have studied only how to overwhelm 
me with disgust." 

The ordinances spread but slowly in Paris, among the pub- 
lic : this however was owing to the Moniteur being principally 
read by those connected with government. For several hours 
no unusual excitement was manifested. That class who first 
felt its effects were the journalists. It has been stated, that at 
this period thirty thousand persons were engaged in printing 
in Paris. The effect of the ordinances was to throw them out 
of employment. The conductors of journals represented to 
their workmen, that they had no longer any employment for 
them, they must go and ask it at their good King. The jour- 
nalists, on this emergency, displayed great courage : seeing the 
ordinances would be ruinous to their business, and destroy their 
rights, they fearlessly set them at defiance, by publishing second 
editions of their papers, the same afternoon, in order to make 
them more generally known. At five o'clock, the prefect of 
police, Mangin, issued injunctions to the printing offices, to 
stop any further publications, except in conformity to the new 
law ; and caused a printed proclamation to be circulated and 



FRENCH REVOLUTION, MONDAY, JULY 26, 1830. 591 

parted on the walls with the penalties to the keepers of reading 
rooms, (Sjc. 

The journalists assembled and drew up in great haste an 
address to their countrymen ; this was signed and published, 
it was a noble display of courage and patriotism : they stated, 
" as they were first called on to obey, so they ought to give the 
first example of resistance to authority, now that it had stripped 
itself of the character of law. This day, the government has 
violated all law, we are set free from obedience ;" and declared 
their determination to publish their journals, regardless of the 
ordinances. " We will do our endeavors, that for one day 
more, at least, th^y may be circulated over all France. It be- 
longs not to us to point out its duties to the chamber, which has 
been illegally dissolved. But we may supplicate it in the name 
of France, to take its stand on its manifest rights, and resist, as 
far as it shall have the power, the violation of the laws. Its 
rights are equally certain, with those on which we ourselves 
rest. The charter (article 50,) says the King may dissolve the 
chamber of deputies, but for that power to be exercised, the 
chamber must have met and been constituted — nay, must surely 
have done something to warrant its dissolution. Before the 
chamber has met and been constituted, there is no chamber to 
dissolve. There are only elections to annul : now no passage 
m the charter gives the King the right of doing this. The ordi- 
nances which have this day appeared, do only in fact annul the 
elections, and are therefore illegal ; as doing that which the 
charter does not authorize. 

" We assume the attitude of resistance in so far as we are 
ourselves concerned ; it belongs to France to consider to what 
extent she will adopt the same course." This address was signed 
with the names of forty-four of the journalists. 

In the mean time, the agitation had already begun in the 
streets ; the crowd assembled at the Palais Royal, to hear the 
papers and news discussed, was continually increasing, till their 
increased numbers, and violence of language, alarmed the 
authorities, who sent a party of gendarmes to watch over them. 
By 3 o'clock in the afternoon, the crowd spread from the square 
of the palace, to the adjoining streets. They then began to 
assail the gendarmes, who kept their stations, making as yet no 
attempt to drive the people back. 

About 8 o'clock, there was a great addition to the crowd 
about the Palais from the printing and manufacturing establish- 
ments. Their masters, in dismissing their hands, after their 
day's work, had notified them they should have no further em- 
ployment for them. Here then was a great addition of men 



592 CHAPTER XIII. 

under high excitement, determined upon resistance, which waa 
now spoken of openly. 

The fearless began to harangue the people, drawn together 
by sympathy, and each speech was received with loud cries of 
bravo, clapping of hands, and cries of " down with the minis- 
ters" — " The charter forever." The shops were now closed, 
and a sudden alarm spread through the throng. 

The police and gendarmes advanced upon the crowd in the 
Palais, and succeeded for a moment in clearing it, without 
inflicting any wounds. The mob proceeded to the hotel of 
Prince Polignac, on the Boulevard des Capuchins, who was 
at this time at St. Cloud. On learning this fact, many went on 
purpose to intercept him ; but mistaking his carriage, he was 
enabled to return without injury, under the escort of two gen- 
darmes. The windows of his hotel were broken, and his 
carriage assailed with stones. As he entered the court, the 
mob threatened to return with reinforcements to set fire to his 
hotel. During the night, the lamps in several of the streets 
were demolished, and the lights extinguished, and the windows 
of some public buildings broken. All these acts sufficiently 
indicated the preparation for the morrow. This day the King 
had passed in the amusements of the chase at Rambouillet, and 
did not return till late to St. Cloud. 

The whole effective military force stationed at Paris, the Sun- 
day previous to the publication of the ordinances, was 11,550 
men, 8 cannon, and 4 howitzers ; 1850 men of this number, 
includes the guards and gendarmes daily stationed at the posts 
in the Capital, St. Cloud, and other places near. These were 
all seized and disarmed in detail. The disposable force, there- 
fore, did not at most exceed 9,700 men, and of this number, but 
three regiments of guards, two of cavalry, and a few artillery, 
4,200, were all that could be depended upon. There were 
besides, 1000 cavalry, and .300 infantry, belonging to St. Cloud, 
Versailles, and St. Germain, but these were never engaged. A 
staff" officer of the guards, who was engaged during the conflict, 
stated if suitable precautions had been taken a fortnight previous, 
that it would have been easy to have assembled from thirty to 
forty thousand men, with fifty cannon, in Paris. 

On the morning of the 27th (Tuesday) several of the jour- 
nals were printed and distributed, so determined were the jour- 
nalists to discharge their duty to the public. The Constilutionel 
was prevented from the distribution o-f its papers by the police 
having stationed a sentinel at the door of the office. The 
National, the Temps, and the Figaro, were printed at an eariy 
hour and thrown from the windows among the people, and 




Street fighting before the Church of St. Roch, 
July 2Sth, 1830. 




Place du Chatelet, July 28, 1830. P. 596. 



FRENCH REVOLUTION, TUESDAY, JULY 27, 1830. 593 

rapidly dispersed through the city. These papers contained 
ihe ordinances, and the noble protests of the journahsts. The 
authorities commenced their operations against the printing 
offices that had set the ordinances at defiance, and part of their 
printing presses were taken away, so as to render them useless. 
The National distributed to the crowd 7,000 copies in less than 
an hour. Thus far the journalists had manfully discharged 
their duty. This day a considerable number of the newly 
elected members of the chamber of deputies assembled at 2 
P. M. at the house of M. Casimir Perrier ; when a protest was 
drawn up and signed. 

The King this morning appointed Marshal Marmont, com- 
mander in chief of the forces in Paris. He immediately esta- 
blished his head quarters at the Tuileries. At half past four, 
an order was issued at the barracks for several regiments to 
march to different stations. One battalion of guards, and two 
pieces of artillery, were stationed on the Boulevard des Capu. 
chins, in front of Polignac's hotel, the interior of which was 
protected with soldiers of the 5th regiment of the line. A 
squadron of lancers protected this part of the Boulevard. 
Several battalions of the line occupied the portion of the Boule- 
vards from the porte St. Martin towards the place de la Bastile, 
and also the place Vendome. Three battalions of the guard 
were placed in the Carrousel, and the place of the Palais Royal : 
and two battalions of the guards, with two cannon, were sta- 
tioned in the place Louis XV. 

While these dispositions of the troops were making, the streets 
were filled with the multitude, as yet unarmed : they now began 
to supply themselves with arms from the shops of gunsmiths; 
and were soon in actual conflict with the military. 

The battalions of the regiments of the line, stationed in front 
of the Palais Royal, were received by the crowd with cries of, 
" the line forever, the line does not fire, the line is on our side." 
Both men and officers, were averse to firing upon the people. 
But the guards considered themselves obliged to remain faithful 
to the government. The mob had already begun in several 
instances to attack the soldiers with stCMies, and every kind of 
missile : these they carried to the upper stories, and roofs of 
houses, and hurled them on the soldiers beneath. They now 
began to barricade the streets, and thus sheltered, they were 
enabled to oppose the patroles. 

This night the remaining lamps were demolished, a judicioua 
precaution and not proceeding from mere wantonness ; as it 
enabled them to erect barricades during the night, and rendered 
their operations more secure from the vigilance of the mili- 

38 



594 CHAPTER XIII. 

tary. Marshal Marmont had written to the King, informing 
him that public tranquillity weis restored, and therefore made 
no preparations during the night, nor sent dispatches for more 
troops. He did not even guard the great depots of arms and 
ammunition. 

During the night, the greatest activity prevailed on the part 
of the people. The inhabitants were enrolled into bands, and 
arrangements made for supplying them with muskets, ammu- 
nition, &;c. The telegraphs had been rendered useless in the 
night ; — this was an effectual means of preventing signals for 
further succors. Bands of men supplied themselves freely from 
the gunsmiths shops, and the arms used at the different theatres, 
and in fact, every kind of offensive weapon was seized and 
pressed into service. 

Wednesday, 28th. — At an early hour, the throng assembled 
in the streets, and directed their march upon the Hotel de Ville, 
soon filling the square in front of that building. This morning 
the national guard appeared in their uniform, among the throng. 
Measures were soon taken to organize this favorite corps ; a 
commission was nominated to proceed to Gen. Lafayette, and 
receive his orders. He did not however assume the command 
of the guards, till the morning of the 29th. The re-organiza- 
tion of the national guard went on promptly during the day : 
the number that appeared was considerable, mostly in uniform, 
and with them appeared the famous Tri-colored flag, so dear to 
the hearts of all Frenchmen. By nine o'clock it waved on 
the pinnacles of Notre Dame, and at eleven, it surmounted the 
central tower of the Hotel de Ville, which was taken possession 
of by the populace, and who immediately stationed themselves 
at the windows with fire-arms. The tocsin had been ringing 
from the bells of Notre Dame, and the church of St. Gervais, with 
all other means that could be devised, to give the greatest pub- 
lic excitement; and to fill the populace with courage, vehement 
speeches were made, and placards, with imprecations against 
the ministry, were stuck up in all the public thoroughfares. 

At eight o'clock this morning, the different regiments left the 
barracks, and at nine took their stations at the following places : 
six battalions of French guards, about 1320 men, with three 
squadrons of lancers, of 100 men each, and 8 guns, were drawn 
up in the place du Carrousel. 500 cuirassiers were quartered 
in the barracks, near the Bastile, and were in communication 
with the 5th, 50th, and 53d regiments of the line, who occupied 
nearly the whole extent of the northern Boulevards and place 
Vendome. — The 15th light infantry, were ordered to the place 
de Greve, Pantheon, and Palais de Justice. The place de Greve 



FRENCH REVOLUTION, WEDNESDAY, JULY 28, 1830. 595 

had, from an early hour, been filled with the armed populace ; 
a detachment of soldiers no sooner arrived there, than, accord. 
ing to the testimony of Lieut. St. Germain, seven or eight hun- 
dred persons, most of whom bore fire-arms, rushed upon them, 
with a loud outcry, and fired a volley, by which two men were 
killed, and most of the detachment wounded, with the officer in 
command. The soldiers then fired, and several of the people 
fell. They immediately retreated, pursued by the crowd. At 
the place de Chatelet, which was also filled with people, a body 
of soldiers were draAvn up in the order of battle : here the har-^ 
rassed detachment of Lieut. St. Germain, found a reinforcement 
in a platoon of grenadiers, a few shots from whom drove back the 
assailants. A heavy fire was now commenced upon the batta- 
lion, from the Pont au Change, from the adjoining quay, and 
from all the windows near. Many of the soldiers were wound- 
ed, and forced to retire to the other side of the river, and got 
to the Tuileries at three-quarters past 10, where some addi- 
tional troops had arrived from St. Dennis, Vincennes, and Ver- 
sailles. 

It does not appear, that Marshal Marmont had formed any 
regular or effective plan of proceeding : the troops were marched 
and countermarched, about the streets and quays, assailed by 
every kind of missile, thrown from windows and the tops of 
houses : the time was lost, when any thing effective could be 
accomplished. The warfare had now became general, and 
the events are so confusedly related, that it is difficult to give 
to them a systematic arrangement. We shall therefore endea- 
vor to describe the most prominent facts, as related by the 
different writers at this memorable epoch. Wherever the mil- 
itary took their stand, the increasing crowds that surrounded 
them, and the constant accession of arms, rendered the situation 
of the soldiers extremely galling ; barricades were also thrown 
up on every side, which rendered their situation still more dis- 
heartening. 

A column consisting of a battalion of guards, half a squadron 
of lancers, with two pieces of cannon, was sent to occupy the 
Hotel de Ville. Their force was joined by one of the battalions 
of the 15th regiment ; this column then crossed the bridge, Pont 
Neuf, and advanced along the Quai de I'Horloge, &c., and pre- 
pared to recross the river to march upon the Hotel de VHle, by 
the Pont Notre Dame, a few hundred paces west of the Greve. 
The people now advanced in great force, and tolerable order, 
with drums beating, on the opposite end of the bridge, to oppose 
their passage. The two cannon were now planted on the centre 
of the bridge ; a field officer of the guards here advanced and 



596 CHAPTER xm. 

warned the people of their danger, by pointing to the guns, and 
assured them they were marching to certain destruction. This 
had the effect of causing the people to withdraw ; but while so 
doing, some shots were fired, and an adjutant killed. The can- 
non firetl one shot each, and the column passed over and occu- 
pied the Quays de Greves and Pelletier on the north side of the 
river. In the mean time, a smaller force attempted to pass the 
new suspension bridge, directly opposite the Greve, where they 
were received with a galling fire, from the house-tops, windows, 
and quays along the Seine. The rest of the column coming up 
to their assistance, the place was taken. The guards had no 
sooner taken their position, than they learned with deep conster- 
nation that a battalion of the 15th light infantry stationed along 
the quays had revolted. The general in command of the guards 
was soon apprised of this, by the falling of his men. The Quai 
de Citi was filled with sharp shooters of the insui'gents, who pro- 
tected by the presence of the 15th regiment, kept up a continued 
fire upon the guards in the place. 

By this time the 50th regiment, stationed in the morning at 
the Boulevards, and afterwards marched to the place de Greve, 
determined to lay down their arms : they wished to return to 
their barracks, but finding these were already in possession of 
the people, they joined 40 cuirassiers, then departing from the 
Bastile, for the Hotel de Ville. The latter had many difficulties 
to encounter, marching through back streets, and at length 
reached the Hotel, but the 50th regiment took no part in the 
fighting, by which the cuirassiers made their way. On their 
arrival at the Hotel de Ville, the officer commanding the guards 
was apprised that he could not depend on receiving the reinforce- 
ment from the Bastile, as he fully expected ; and what rendered 
his situation more trying, his cartridges were now about spent. 
Two detachments were sent in quest of ammunition, but did not 
return. A message succeeded in gaining the Tuileries ; this 
was by a party of cuirassiers ; 200 Swiss were sent to the place 
de Greve ; when they arrived there, the guards 220 strong, had 
been engaged five hours, and had forty men liors de combat, 
(about 5 o'clock,) and had gained an entrance, with a part of 
their forces, ijito the Hotel de Ville. The populace having now 
returned, the cavalry and artillery sheltered themselves in the 
stable yards from the severe fire, directed against them, from 
the opposite bank of the river. The 50th regiment was also 
protected in the inner court of the Hotel. 

The hardest fighting yet, had been at the entry of Rue du 
Mouton, a street that opens into the place de Greve, from the 
north. When the troops had established themselves in the place 



FRENCH REVOLUTION, WEDNESDAY, JULY 28, 1830. 597 

de Greve, a severe fire was kept up against them frorr. both 
angles of the street, and Irom behind a barricade there thrown 
up, but which was soon taken and retaken, on the arrival of 
the Swiss, during a movement ill executed ; its loss led to the 
severest conflict of the day, from the determination of the sol- 
diers to regain this post, in which they finally succeeded, and 
drove the popular forces away. The troops at length were 
withdrawn into the Hotel de Ville, except a detachment of light 
infantry, that held the barricade in the Rue du Mouton. The 
sharp-shooters of the guards, kept up a destructive fire from 
the windows of the Hotel, having now received a supply of 
cartridges from the regiments of the line, which refused to fire 
upon the people. 

After the Hotel was taken possession of by the troops,* they 
kept it during the day's fight. 

Wednesday was the usual day on which the King held a 
council ; but the state of affairs in Paris, prevented the routine 
of business, and the ministers for safety, had taken up their 
quarters at the Tuileries. 

The celebrated M. Arago, of the Academy of Sciences, who 
was on terms of great intimacy with Marmont, sought an inter- 
view : for this purpose, he exposed himself, in company with 
his son, to all risks, to gain the palace of the Tuileries. It 
was 2 o'clock, P. M. when he arrived, where he was ushered 
into the presence of Marmont, in a saloon looking towards the 
Carrousel. He found him with many officers, and other per- 
sons not in uniform. M. Arago, taking the Marshal aside, in 
a conversation insisted on the rights of resistance on the part 
of the people — that the ordinances should be immediately with- 
drawn — and the dismissal of the ministers, &c. During this 
discussion, an aid-de-camp brought intelligence that General 
Quinsenas could no longer maintain his position, which put an 
end to this interview. Immediately after, the arrival of several 
members of the chamber of deputies was announced ; and 
these were introduced to the presence of the Marshal. These 
deputies were M. M. Lafitte, Casimir Perrier, General Gerard, 
Lobau, and Mauguin. They represented the dangers which 
threatened the throne ; the convulsed and frightful state of the 
Capital ; and demanded that the ministers should be dismissed, 
and the ordinances withdrawn, as the only means to stop the 
effusion of blood. The Marshal communicated the substance 

* There appears to be some discrepancy in the statements of different 
writers about the taking and holding the Hotel ; but the fact, as stated 
above, is established by the narration of the staff-officer and others, given 
during the trial of the ministers 



598 CHAPTER XIII 

of this message to the ministers. The reply of M. Polignac 
was, it was useless for him to see them. They immediately 
withdrew. Lafitte, the chief speaker, said, the question could 
only be decided by the chance of arms ; and henceforward, the 
deputies determined to exert themselves in the revolutionary 
cause — seeing there was no hope of an accommodation. 

In the conflict maintained this day, in the place de Greve, 
the populace displayed the utmost perseverance, and the most 
unshrinking courage. The rapidity and excellent judgment of 
their movements, the readiness to seize on every advantage to 
annoy the enemy, shows, they must have had leaders possessed 
of much practical military knowledge. Nor did they shrink 
from the sanguinary contest, where any thing could be gained 
by the sacrifice of life. It should be borne in mind, that this 
struggle was also carried on, under a most oppressive heat, 
Fahrenheit's thermometer ranging at 95°. 

The iron suspension-bridge was the theatre of many daring 
feats of valor ; and has since been called, in commemoration, 
the bridge of Arcole, {le Pont d' Arcole.) 

The wounded, during the day, were carried in carts and lit- 
ters, to the hospitals ; and the dead to the Morgue, amidst the 
most respectful silence of the crowd. 

The royal troops, though they were in possession of the 
Hotel de Ville, without any hopes of receiving further reinforce- 
ments, were now exceedingly anxious to quit it. They accord- 
ingly effected a retreat, during the stillness of the night, to the 
Tuileries. Of wounded men, they had between 50 and 60 — 
though another statement makes the number much higher, 
these they carried with them. The people had generally left 
the streets and windows, during the night. The troops at 
length reached the Tuileries, without any obstruction except 
a barricade they had to take down, to get their cannon &long : 
this made some noise, and occasioned some shots to be fired 
about them. 

In the Boulevard St. Denis, a great crowd had assembled at 
an early hour, and among these was seen the uniform of the 
national guard. This crowd was not generally armed with 
muskets. About 8 o'clock, a detachment of cuirassiers made 
a charge upon the crowd, at full gallop. They were then en- 
gaged in tearing up the j>avement, and carrying the stones to 
the top of the Port St. Denis. They stood firm, and with long 
poles threw the cuirassiers from their saddles at the first encoun- 
ter, and seized their arms, suffering none to escape. With these 
new equipments, the offensive was now assumed by them. At 
9, a guard of 20 soldiers of the line surrendered their arms ; 



FRENCH REVOLUTION, WEDNESDAY, JULY 28, 1830. 599 

the guard-house was demolished, and of the materials, a bai ri- 
cade was constructed across the Boulevard. A furious encoun- 
ter took place with the guards, at the gate, where stones were 
hurled, and a brisk fire kept up. 

The people now commenced erecting barricades on a great 
scale, along the Boulevard, at the suggestion of Ambrose Meno- 
ret, a carpenter : for this purpose, the fine trees, planted by 
Louis the Grand, were levelled by the axe. It was done with 
expedition and great science, under the direction of Menoret, 
who supplied them with tools from his shop. This was a most 
fortunate idea. These barriers were so numerous, as to be 
insurmountable, and cut off all communication with the troops. 
This line of barricades extended from the Rue du Temple, in the 
east, to the Rue de Richelieu, west. An eminent architect, Mr. 
Crecy, had a large quantity of timber, scaffold poles, pick-axes, 
crow-bars, &c. carried away ; all these were afterwards returned 
with scrupulous exactness. 

From a subsequent report, it appears that during the revo- 
lutionary struggle, 4055 barricades were thrown up, consisting 
of trees felled, carriages of every description overturned, and 
the pavements taken up. The number of paving stones torn 
up, for this purpose, were 3,125,000. The expense of paving 
the streets again, was 250,000 francs. Paris is paved with 
large square stones. The gutters are in the middle of the streets, 
and they flowed with blood during these sanguinary conflicts. 

The immense- importance of these numerous barricades, 
thrown up with such unparalleled rapidity, will be best illus- 
trated by the following details. A strong column arrived at the 
Bastile, and began to fire upon the people ; these discharges 
were kept up without intermission, and returned by the people, 
who were forced to retire ; and were pursued by the troops, as 
far as the Rue de Reuilly, which meets the Rue du Faubourg, 
St. Antoine. Here the troops were again assailed with a sharp 
fire, and had several barricades to overcome. The column 
remained in the Rue Faubourg St. Antoine, till half past three, 
and when about to retire, were again assailed with firing, and 
missiles from the houses. On the return of this body of troops 
to the Bastile, the commander, M. St. Chamans, found he could 
not return by the northern Boulevards,* from the numerous bar- 

* The total number of streets in Paris, exclusive ofCuls de Sac, are 1142, 
mostly narrow. The 18 Boulevards are broad streets, planted on both 
sides with trees, and forming beautiful promenades. Those outside of the 
walls are called the exterior Boulevards, The interior Boulevards are 
divided into the old, or northern, and the new, or southern, and are of great 
length, with many streets running into them. — Enc. Am. Vol. IX. p 524, 
a work from which we have derived many important facts 



600 CHAPTEH XIII. 

ricades, that had risen as if by magic. The attempt to force a 
passage to the Hotel de Ville, by the Rue St. Antoine, also 
failed, from the same cause ; while the troops were exposed to 
a heavy fire from all the windows, and their ammunition was 
now exhausted. Under all these dangers, M. St. Chamans 
returned as well as he could, with his column, over the bridge 
of Austerlitz, and by a circuitous way to the Tuileries, by the 
southern Boulevards. The column arrived at the place Louis 
XV. between 10 and 11 at night. After this, no more troops 
were seen in the place de la Bastile or neighborhood. 

The 28th closed with the retirement of the royal forces frorr, 
every position in which they had attempted to establish them, 
selves during the day. During the night, the citizens did not 
cease from their exertions, but availed themselves of this respite, 
to complete the erection of barricades, in every part of the 
city. In this great work, all ranks of citizens, the aged and 
the young, were alike ardently employed. These barriers were 
erected at about forty or fifty paces asunder, breast high, and 
four or five feet in thickness, the work was carried on by torch 
light, the lamps having been broken. The dreadful tocsin con- 
tinned ringing during the night. In the vicinity of the Louvre, 
and the Tuileries, a patrol of guards, continued to walk during 
the night, and fired upon all who came within reach of their 
muskets. 

Thursday, 29th, the drums beat the reveille, and the hurrying 
crowds as they assembled, cried, " To arms, to arms /" Several 
distinguished military characters, were this day to act as lead- 
ers. Among them were Generals Gerard and Dubourg. The 
entire failure of the plans of Marmont had induced him to adopt 
this day a different mode of warfare. Instead of marching his 
troops through the streets to no purpose, he had sent for further 
reinforcements, and now intended to concentrate all his strength 
in the Tuileries, and keep up a communication with St. Cloud. 
The following places were in possession of the royal troops, this 
morning : the Tuileries, Carrousel and Garden, the Louvre, the 
Bank, and Palais Royal, place Vendome, the Champs Elysees, 
Rue St. Honore, and several streets. 

There was an addition to the royal forces of 6,700 men, that 
had arrived since yesterday, so tliat the total number of the 
guards amounted to 11 battalions of infantry, and 13 squadrons 
of cavalry, in all 4,300 men. The eight battalions of the line, 
amounting to 2,400, were of no service to the royal cause — 
one battalion of guards occupied the military school. It will 
be seen that the military were this day to be put on the defen- 
sive : it remained therefore with the popular forces, to make the 



FRENCH REVOLUTION, THURSDAY, JULY 29, 1830. 601 

attack, who were this day strengthened by the students of the 
celebrated Polytechnic school, about 60 of whom scaled tlip 
walls, and headed the civic columns by whom they were hailed 
ivith the greatest enthusiasm. 

The bands from the Faubourgs had poured into the Rue St. 
Honore, by its eastern extremity, and a fiece and murderous 
warfare was carried on, and here, the Polytechnic scholars led 
the citizens to the charge. The battle began to rage fiercely 
at several points near Rue St. Honore. 

But before any important engagement had occurred, to 
decide the fate of the day, the defection of troops occupying 
important stations, led to important results. About half past 
eleven, the troops of the line, at the place Vendome, and the 
Palais Bourbon, negotiated with the leaders of the populace, 
when new barriers rose in all directions round these stations. 
The 5th and 53d regiments of the line, stationed in the place 
Vendome, fraternized with the people : this ceremony was per- 
formed by taking off their bayonets, and shouldering their 
muskets, with the butts in the air. Marshal Marmont was 
immediately apprized of the defection of the troojjs, and sent 
a battalion of Swiss guards from the Louvre, to supply their 
posts. By some strange oversight, the battalion was withdrawn, 
that defended the whole position, the Colonnade and gallery 
of the Louvre. The populace soon found their way into the 
garden, called L'Enfant, in front of the Louvre, and there meet- 
ing with no obstacles, entered the lower windows, and glass 
doors, and took -immediate possession of the interior of this noble 
pile. 

From the windows of the inner court the Parisians fired upon 
the battalion beneath, and soon every window in the great gal- 
lery of paintings was filled, whence they fired on the troops in 
the place du Carrousel, and soon drove the Swiss guards away 
in great disorder. There were also two squadrons of lancers in 
the inclosure of the Tuileries, exposed to the fury of the popu- 
lace. The Swiss rushed to the Triumphal Arch, and getting 
through it with great irregularity, threw themselves among the 
lancers. The egress from this railed space was blocked up by 
the latter, but through it the troops escaped as soon as possible. 
It is said, two platoons of firm soldiers might have driven the 
popular forces away, who were not numerous at this time. It 
was at this spot (the Triumphal Arch) that Marshal Marmont 
had established his head quarters ; and so unexpected was the 
attack that he retreated precipitately, leaving behind him 120,000 
francs (5,000?.) in bags. His retreat was by the Rue de RevoJi, 
and thence round into the garden of the Tuileries. From the 



602 CHAPTER XIII. 

terrace, two cannon shot were fired on the Parisians. The 
Swiss formed again, but only to retire immediately, by order of 
the Marshal, upon St. Cloud. Thus terminated the capture of 
ihe Louvre and the Tuileries. 

In this attack on the Louvre, the strongest column was com- 
(iicmded by General Gerard ; while the pupils of the Polyteclmic 
school served under him, advancing at the head of their respec- 
tive companies. It was one of these youths that led the attack 
on one of its gates and drove it in, when the forces rushed im- 
petuously on the guards. Many interesting facts are related, 
showing the courage and noble bearing of these youths, whose 
services were so conspicuous during the revolution. It was 
about 1 o'clock when the Tuileries were captured. In the 
famous gallery of the Louvre, the splendid coronation picture 
of Charles X. with another painting, was instantly destroyed. 
The rest of this precious collection of paintings was left un- 
touched. This fact reflects the highest honor on the Parisian 
multitude. No sooner was the palace o£ the Tuileries in pos- 
session of the populace, than every thing relating to the Bour- 
bons met with immediate destruction. A splendid painting of 
the Duke of Ragusa, (Marmont,) was torn into a thousand 
pieces, and every bust and painting of the royal family destroyed 
with the exception of a bust of Louis XVIII., to whom France* 
was indebted for the charter. Upon the whole, the populace, 
even to the poorest of the working classes, displayed a remark 
able degree of forbearance from pillage when in possession of 
the riches of the royal palace. 

The Swiss barracks, in the Rue Babylone, had been taken 
possession of before the capture of the Tuileries. Finding this 
place defended with great obstinacy, it was set on fire with 
straw and turpentine. Major Dufay, the commander of these 
quarters, was killed ; when the flames and smoke forced the 
soldiers to make a desperate sortie, when great numbers fell. 
Major Dufay was an officer of great distinction, and had served 
under Napoleon in his celebrated campaigns. 

The archbishop's palace, in the He de la Cite, was assailed 
under the command of several Polytechnic scholars. Finding 
there, unexpectedly, ammunition and newly sharpened poinards, 
the multitude were so exasperated that the work of destruction 
immediately commenced. Costly articles of furniture and books 
in gorgeous bindings were torn to pieces, scattered, and thrown 
from the windows into the river. 

A sanguinary combat was kept up in Rue St. Honore with 
the Swiss, after the Louvre and Tuileries were taken. This 
incensed the people greatly — the soldiers almost to a man pe- 



FRENCH REVOLUTION, THURSDAY, JULY 29, 1830. 603 

nshed — the carnage there was horrible, about nine hundred 
dead bodies being found. About half past 3, P. M. the last of 
the mihtary posts in the city of Paris surrendered. 

The royal troops retreated towards St. Cloud, not without 
meeting with obstructions on the way, and being somewhat 
harassed. The bridge at Neuilly had been blocked up with 
heavy carts and wagons at the suggestion of Lafayette ; and 
the people still continued to fire upon the exhausted and dispirited 
soldiers. Thus ended the three days' hard conflict, in which 
the citizens of Paris had fought and bled, and at last achieved 
a glorious victory. 

The number of citizens killed and wounded in these three 
days' fight, has been variously stated. From the report of the 
committee of national rewards, appointed to investigate the 
claims of the wounded and of the relatives of the slain, it ap- 
pears that the number of killed and those who died from wounds, 
was 788 ; and of wounded about 4,500. 

On the 31st of July, the deputies published a proclamation, 
declaring that they had invited the Duke of Orleans to become 
Lieutenant-General of the kingdom. At noon on the same day, 
Louis Phillippe d'Orleans issued a proclamation declaring that 
he hastened to Paris, wearing the " glorious colors" of France, 
to accept the invitation of the assembled deputies — to become 
Lieutenant-General of the kingdom. A proclamation of the 
same date appointed provisional commissaries for the different 
departments of government : these were, M. Dupont de I'Eure, 
for the department of justice ; Baron Louis, of finance ; General 
Gerard, of war ; de Rigny, of marine ; M. Bignon, of foreign 
affairs ; M. Guizot, of public instruction ; M. Casimir Perrier, 
of the interior and public works. 

The same day, (31st,) Charles X. and his household fled from 
St. Cloud to Rambouillet. Three commissioners were sent to 
treat with him : these were, Messrs. De Schonen, Marshal 
Maison, and O'Dillon Barrett. The national guard advanced 
towards Rambouillet, which brought about a speedy delivery 
of the crown jewels from Charles X. and hastened his depar- 
ture. August 2d, the abdication of Charles X. and the Dau- 
phin, Louis Antoine, was put into the hands of the Duke of 
Orleans ; and a letter from Charles, appointing the Duke regent, 
and ordering him to proclaim the Duke of Bordeaux King, with 
the title of Henry V. 

The chamber of deputies met on the 3d of August. On the 
6th, the throne of France was declared vacant by the chamber 
of deputies (de jure et de facto.) On the 7tli, some changes 
in the charter were adopted, when by vote, the Duke of Orleans 



604 CHAPTER XIII. 

was invited to become King of the French, on condition of 
his accepting the changes made in the constitution. The vot<;a 
were 219 in favor, 33 against : the whole number of deputies 
is 430. 

On the 8th, the chamber in a body went to the Duke of Or. 
leans and offered him the crown, which he accepted ; and on 
the 9th, Louis Phillippe took the oath to support the new charter. 
In these measures, a majority of the chamber of peers present, 
concurred. On the 12th of August, the Moniteur announced 
the names of the new ministry, from the moderate Hberal party, 
as follows : Count de Mole, foreign affairs ; General Gerard, 
war ; Baron Louis, finance ; Guizot, interior ; Gen. Sebastian*, 
marine ; Dupont de I'Eure, keeper of the seals and minister of 
justice ; Duke de Broglie, president of the ministry. Lafitte 
and Casimir Perrier were also appointed ministers of state, 
without any special departments. 

Charles X. was permitted to retreat unmolested from France. 
He, with his household, took passage in two American ships for 
England, where he was received merely as a private individual, 
and took up his residence at Holy rood- House, Edinburgh, where 
he had formerly resided during the sway of Napoleon. 

Many changes were made in the officers of the French 
government, in accordance with the spirit of the times and for 
the better establishment of harmony in the government. Out 
of 86 prefects, 76 were removed ; and of sub-prefects, 196 out 
of 277. In the army, 65 general officers out of 75 were 
changed, 65 colonels removed, and almost all the governors of 
fortresses. 74 procureurers were dismissed. Special missions 
were sent to the different courts of Europe, which were well 
received by all of them except Russia. The greatest activity 
W£is exerted in the army to put it on a footing to meet any inva- 
sion, and the organization of the national guard was provided 
for. Of the late ministry, Polignac, Chantelauze, and Guernon 
de Ranville, underwent a trial and were declared guilty of trea- 
son and sentenced to imprisonment for life, with the penalty of 
civil death to Polignac. He and his colleagues were transferred 
to the prison at Ham. 

Nov. 3d, the ministry was changed, and Lafitte advanced to 
the presidency of the council and minister of finance. March 
the 14th, Casimir Perrier succeeded him in office. On the 18th 
of October, 1831, a bill passed the chamber of deputies for 
abolishing the hereditary rights of the French peerage : to 
ensure its passage in the chamber of peers, Louis Phillippe 
created thirty -six new peers. 



FRENCH REVOLUTION, THURSDAY, JULY 29, 1830. 605 

The most prominent events which marked the reign of Louis 
Phillippe, during the year 1832, were the siege of the citadel of 
Antwerp, and its surrender by the Dutch, after a long and vig- 
orous resistance— the arrest of the Duchess of Berri, at Nantes, 
and an attempt to assassinate the King, During the succeeding 
twelve months, the country was comparatively quiet. In the 
year 1834, a treaty formed by the Duke de Broglie, and General 
Sebastiani, with the American Minister, was annulled by the 
refusal of the Chamber of Deputies to grant 25,000,000 francs 
to the United States as an indemnity for injuries received by 
American ships and commerce during the last European war. 
In April, of this year, a treaty, termed the quadruple alliance, 
was concluded between Great Britain, France, Spain and Por- 
tugal, the object of which was to secure the peace of the last 
two countries, under their existing constitutional government. 

On the 10th of April, 1835, the Chamber acknowledged the 
propriety of the American claims, and provided for the payment 
of the indemnity in annual installments. On the 28th of July, 
of the same year, the anniversary of the revolution of 1830, as 
the king was reviewing the troops, an infernal machine from an 
adjoining house exploded. Many were wounded, and some 
lives lost, but Louis Phillippe, and three sons then with him, 
escaped unharmed. Fieschi, the conspirator against the King's 
life, was arrested and condemned to death. 

On the 25th of June, 1836, a third attempt was made to take 
the King's life. He was fired at while taking a drive, but the 
ball lodging in the carriage, no injury was done. The guilty 
actor, a young man, named Alibaud, was arrested and guil- 
lotined. On the King's birthday, Oct. 6th, the ex-ministers of 
Charles X., imprisoned in the Castle of Ham, were released 
from confinement ; indignation towards them having given place 
to pity. In October, an insurrection was attempted by Louis 
Napoleon Bonaparte, at Strasburg, but it v^as at once suppressed, 
and he was exiled to America. In September of this year, as 
the King was proceeding to open the session of the Chamber of 
Deputies, with his three sons, he was again shot at — the ball 
barely missing him, passing through the back of his carriage. 
Meurice, a workman, by whom the pistol was fired, was appre- 
hended and condemned to death, but afterwards banished for 10 
years. 

In the spring of 1838, a model was discovered of a new "in- 
fernal machine," made by Huber, a pardoned republican, who 
designed constructing a machine for the destruction of the royal 
family. He was tried and banished. 

In 1840, 1,000,000 francs was appropriated for the purpose of 



606 CHAPTER XIII. 

bringing to France the remains of Napoleon, and interring them 
with pomp. Louis Napoleon having returned from America, 
and again attempted to rally a party in his favor, was arrested 
and imprisoned for life in the Castle of Ham. In October, 
while reviewing the National Guards, the King was fired at with 
a musket with six balls, but escaped for the fifth time. The as- 
sassin, named Darmes, was afterwards executed. 

In 1842, the Duke of Orleans, heir apparent of the King, lost 
his life by being thrown from a carriage. In consequence, it 
was decided that should Louis Phillippe die before the young 
Count of Paris, son of the Duke of Orleans, came of age, the 
regency should devolve on the next individual, in the order of 
succession to the throne, who should reach the age of 21 years. 

During the last few years of this period, nothing of further 
moment than the capture of the Marquesas and Society Islands, 
in the Pacific Ocean, and the interchange of friendly visits be- 
tween Queen Victoria and Louis Phillippe occurred in the 
history of France, until the eventful dawning of 1848. 



REVOLUTION IN BELGIUM. 607 



Revolution in Belgium. 

The Belgians soon followed the example of the French, m 
the career of revolution, by rising and expelling a king that 
had been forced upon them against their wishes. The congress 
of Vienna, it will be recollected, in 1814 and 1815, severed the 
Netherlands from France, with which it had been incorporated 
since 179.5, and constituted it with the United Provinces, into 
one political body, under William, Prince of Orange, having the 
title of King of the Netherlands. This was done with a view 
of giving to Germany greater security against the power of 
France. The consent of the Southern Netherlands was never 
asked or given ; it was disposed of by the great powers as a 
conquered province or district. William attempted to unite two 
million of Dutch Calvinists, engaged principally in commerce, 
with four millions of Belgian Catholics, employed in agriculture 
and manufactures — whose interests, language, and manners, were 
widely opposed to the Dutch, and whose language was disagree- 
able to the Belgians, who have much the habits and feelings of 
Frenchmen, and who are also greatly influenced by a priesthood 
decidedly hostile to all innovations, more especially when coming 
from the Dutch ; so that the attempt to blend these discordant 
feelings and conflicting interests entirely failed. And the policy 
of William's government was by no means calculated to con- 
ciliate the proud and rich Belgians, whom he treated more as 
vassals than subjects. The Belgians had many just causes of 
complaint against the arbitrary measures of William's govern- 
ment ; they were burdened with heavy taxes, and the education 
of their children was taken out of the hands of the natives. 
This state of dissatisfaction led to several demands contained in 
an address for this purpose ; the grievances ennumerated were 
fifteen. They demanded an equitable division of public offices 
between the two countries, liberty of language, instruction, and 
the press, and the responsibility of ministers. After various 
struggles, an insurrection at Brussels broke out in August, 1830, 
and the Belgians made a formal declaration of their indepen- 
dence on the 4th October, 1830. 

The representatives of the European powers, viz : Austria, 
France, Great Britain, Prussia, and Russia, assembled at Lon- 
don, and there agreed to a protocol in favor of an armistice, 
and directed that hostilities should cease between the Dutch and 
Belgians. The acknowledgment of the independence of Bei- 
gium was announced December 27th, 1830, to the national con 



608 CHAPTER xin. 

gress at Brussels, the Belgians having decided upon a constiiu 
tional monarchy February 3d, 1831 — the Duke of Nemours, 
the second son of Louis Phillippe, king of France, was elected 
to fill the throne. On the 17th, the King of France declined 
the proffered throne on behalf of his son. February 24th, M 
Sulet de Chokier was elected regent of Belgium. January 4th, 
the Belgium congress-elected Prince Leopold of Saxe Coburg 
for their king, by a vote of 152 to 34, which was sanctioned by 
the five great powers. The new king made his entrance into 
Brussels July 21st, and took the oath to support the constitution. 
September 8th, Leopold, king of Belgium, opened his first par- 
liament. November 1st, the chamber of representatives of 
Belgium agreed to the terms of settlement between Belgium 
and Holland, prescribed by the London conference, and on the 
8d, the senate agreed to the same by a vote of 35 to 8. 



Revolution in Poland, 

The spirit of Poland has never been crushed. The sword 
of Suvaroff and the snows of Siberia had diminished the num- 
ber of her brave sons, but they who clung to the soil of their 
country and they who devoted their lives to the service of for- 
eigners alike breathed vengeance on their oppressors and ardent 
aspirations for the restoration of Poland. They expected much 
from Napoleon — they spent their best blood in his service, and 
spent it in vain. Napoleon rejected the opportunity of creating 
a barrier nation, a camp of devoted soldiers, which would for- 
ever have secured his empire on its weakest side. Still the 
Poles did not despair. The moderation of Alexander made 
their servitude more endurable ; but no sooner had Nicholas 
ascended the throne of Russia, and sanctioned the barbarities 
of his brutal brother, Constantino, than the old spirit revived, 
if indeed that spirit had ever slept. The successful example 
of France, followed by Belgium and Brunswick, roused them to 
action and inspired them with the liveliest hopes. The day of 
vengeance and liberation seemed to have arrived. France well 
knew that Poland alone stood between her and the already ad- 
vancing' legions of Russia, and her emissaries offered every 
encouragement to the patriot Poles. Lashed to fury by her own 
wrongs, listening to the voice of hope, and encouraged by pro- 
mises of support, Poland stood in the gap, encountered the first 
onset, and bore up against it manfully and well. But every 



KEVOLUTIOW IN POLAND. 609 

Victory weakened lier strength — the delusive hope of assistance 
vanislied, and Poland has sunk in iron-bound despair. How 
will France, saved perhaps by the sacrifice of Poland, answei 
to man and to God for her ingratitude and perfidy ! 

It was on the 29th of November, 1830, that the insurrection 
at Warsaw burst forth. Secret societies had existed in that 
city since 1818, for the express purpose of securing the liberty 
and nationality of Poland. It was a noble design of her patri- 
ots to unite again under one government those portions of their 
unhappy country which had been torn assunder and despoiled 
by the rapacity of Russia, Prussia, and Austria. 

As early as 1821, Russia had commenced a system of pro- 
scription against these secret societies ; and in 1825, a conspi- 
racy was kindled into flame at Petersburg, which it was thought 
could be traced to Warsaw. The societies had members 
throughout Poland and Lithuania, Podolia and Volhynia, and 
even the old provinces of the Ukraine, which it might be sup 
posed had long since lost all recollections of Polish glory. 
These associations were formed during the reign of the Empe- 
ror Alexander, to whom some of the patriots had vainly looked 
for a better state of things. After the death of Alexander, his 
successor, Nicholas, was crowned King of Poland at Warsaw, 
May, 1829. 

The diet assembled in 1830, and in spite of all the endeavors 
of the Emperor, many patriots were elected. Nicholas opened 
this assembly in person, but failed to overawe the liberals from 
impeaching ministez's for violating the charter. This liberal diet 
was closed June 28th.* Such freedom of discussion could not 
be endured by a despotic monarch, whose unvarying aim has 
been to tread out every spark of liberty in the northern parts 
of Europe. The Arch-Duke Constantino was made viceroy 
of Poland, and by his monstrous atrocities became universally 
detested by the brave and generous Poles. 

The ardent hopes and wishes of the Polish patriots at length 
burst forth into flame. At 7 in the evening, the hour agreed 
upon, fifteen intrepid youths sallied forth determined to seize 
on Constantino, whose residence was about two miles from 
Warsaw. They rushed into the palace of the Belvider, where 
the usual guard consists of sixty men, first wounding the director 
of police, who fled. They next killed General Gendre, a Rus- 

* The constitution of Poland, issued by Alexander, Emperor of Russia, 
m 1815, contained many important provisions. The diet, composed of two 
houses, was to be assembled once every two years ; yet in violation of this 
provision, none was convoked from 1820 to 1825, and only one under the 
Emperor Nicholas. 

39 



610 CHAPTER XIII. 

sian infamous for his crimes. The struggle alarmed Constan- 
line, who instantly rose from his bed and escaped undressed by 
a secret door, that was closed after him by his valet just as they 
were on the point of reaching him, and had supposed themselves 
secure of their victim. Constantine instantly fled to his guards. 
Thus disappointed, this band retired to their companions in 
arms, who awaited, at the bridge of Sobieski, the result of this 
movement. In returning to the city they had to pass the bar- 
racks where the guards, though already mounted, were unable 
to attack them on account of a precautionary measure of 
Constantine in surrounding the barracks with a deep and wide 
ditch, passed only by narrow bridges. The guards fired upon 
the insurgents ; but the latter were so advantageously situ 
ated, and returned the fire so well, that they killed three hun 
dred of the guards, and retreated with the loss of only one o[ 
their number. 

By this time the streets of Warsaw were filled, some houses 
had been set on fire, and the cry resounded " To arms, to arms, 
Poland is up, God for our country !" The inhabitants rushed 
to arms. The state prisoners were liberated ; the students oi 
the university and the school of engineers joined the insurrec- 
tion ; the arsenal was forced, and in an hour and a half from 
the first cry of liberty, 40,000 men were in arms. Soon the 
fourth Polish regiment joined the populace, and presently the 
rest of the Polish soldiers. When Constantine heard of this, 
he fell back with two Polish regiments of guards, and was per- 
mitted to retire by the magnanimous Poles unmolested to the 
frontier. Chlopicki was appointed general in chief, and four 
days afterwards declared dictator by the provisional govern- 
ment. Although a soldier of undisputed bravery, he has been 
blamed for suffering the grand duke to escape when he might 
have captured him, and for losing time in trying to negotiate 
with the Emperor Nicholas. 

The diet that assembled in twenty days after the breaking 
out of the revolt, confirmed Chlopicki dictator ; but on his refus- 
ing assent to the manifesto of January 9th, 1831, in which the 
wrongs of Poland were so feelingly portrayed, he was deposed. 
Instantly a supreme national council was formed, and Prince 
Adam Czartor}^ski appointed president, when a spirited procla- 
mation was issued, informing the Polish soldiers that Chlopicki 
had resigned the glorious task of conducting them to combat. 

It was unfortunate for the cause of Poland that Chlopicki was 
made dictator. He issued an order, *' that whoever should cross 
the frontiers of the kingdom, and attempt to raise the old pro. 
vinces, should be punished with death." Such an order might 



REVOLUTION IN POLAND. 611 

have been issued in respect to Prussian and Austrian Poland ; 
but not to those provinces that had risen to shake off the Rus- 
sian yoke, and Lithuania, where the revolt had begun, and where 
thousands impatiently waited the signal from old Poland, to rise 
and join the struggle for liberty. This order of Chlopicki was 
regarded by the patriots, not only as a severe check to the enthu- 
siasm of those provinces waiting to rise on the signal being given, 
but as almost traitorous to their cause. That time was lost in 
fruitless negotiation that should have been devoted to kindling, 
far and wide, the spirit of revolt ; and in the most active prepa- 
ration to meet the vast resources of Russia, which had refused 
all terms but absolute submission ; and the preparations in the 
army were strangely neglected. These proceedings at length 
caused so much dissatisfaction against Chlopicki, as to lead to 
his dismission. 

After two months delay the inevitable conflict began ; when 
the Poles marched into the field, " with half the force which 
under an energetic administration it would have wielded." 
They ought to have been ready to have commenced offensive 
operations with their enemy at a distance, instead of waiting 
for him on their own soil, exposed to his insults and outrages. 
Russia had now brought into the field against Poland 200,000 
men, while Poland had but about 50,000 equipped for the fight 
— a fearful disparity in numbers. Through the influence of 
the aristocracy, the command of the army was given to Prince 
Radzvil. 

The Russian invading 'army rendezvoused, on the 20th of 
January, at various points of the western frontier of the empire. 
It was composed, according to the report of Field Marshal 
Diebitsch, of 105 battalions of infantry, 135 squadrons of cav- 
airy, with 396 pieces of artillery, and 11 regiments of Cos- 
sacks. The army crossed the Polish frontiers on the 5th of 
February. The advance of the Polish army was at Biala, the 
right near the high road to Warsaw, the left at Lomeza on the 
Narew. On the advance of the Russians, the Polish corps 
fell back, the right on Warsaw, and the left on Modlin and Pul- 
tusk. On the 18th of February, the Russian head-quarters were 
established at Minsk, ten miles from Warsaw, and their advance 
pushed to Melisna, within five miles of that city. The Russian 
left rested on the Vistula above Warsaw, and the right on the 
Buo- near its junction with the Narew, its centre protected with 

woods and artillery. 

On the 18th, the Polish army of 50,000 men had its right on 
Grokow, with Praga in the rear, and the left thrown back oppo- 
site the right wing of the enemy. 



612 CHAPTER XIII. 

The reconnoissances of the 19th and 20th, were resisted by 
the Holes and led to a severe battle. According to the Russian 
account, the heat of the battle was during the early part of the 
day confined to the left, Count Pahlen's advanced guard, which 
was attacked as soon as it had cleared the defile near Grokow, 
and compelled to retreat two miles. The advanced guard, 
under General Rosen, was attacked at the same time, advancing 
from Okanief. On the arrival of Diebitsch, he sent a reinforce- 
ment under General Toll, with several battalions and 20 cannon, 
lo the relief of Count Pahlen. A furious charge was now made 
by the Russians, with Diebitsch in person, which changed the 
fortune of the day, and at 4 o'clock the Russian wings united, 
when the Poles were driven from the field of battle. For three 
days after this action the Russians made no onward movement, 
but asked an armistice for the burial of the dead, which was 
granted. 

Early on the 25th, the Russians having received a reinforce- 
ment of 25,000 men, felt prepared for action. They dj-ew 
forth their whole army in front of the forest, and commenced 
an attack on the Polish left wing, near Jublonna. General 
Uminski received this attack with great bravery, and repulsed 
the enemy, taking six cannon, which he spiked, and drove the 
Russians to the forest. He then attacked the Russian centre 
with dreaaful slaughter, and drove them from their position. 
Diebitsch had calculated, with the great strength of his left 
wing, to crush the Polish right, situated near Grokow, under 
the command of Chlopicki and Skrzynecki. The Russians 
made six tremendous charges, and were as often repulsed with 
great loss ; a seventh charge made against a new regiment, 
put it in disorder, and caused it partially to retreat. Two 
regiments of cuirassiers were then sent against the faltering 
regiments : the latter being aided with the Polish lancers, rallied, 
rushed on the regiments of cuirassiers, and cut them to pieces, 
of which only forty escaped, twenty prisoners only being taken, 
mostly officers, and among them the commander of one of these 
regiments. This affair decided the day, when the Russians were 
obliged to withdraw from the field of battle into their strong 
holds in the forest of Milosna. This battle was fought with 
great fury. General Chlopicki, who was in the centre, had two 
horses killed under him, and was wounded. Forty thousand 
Poles here withstood the shock of one hundred and fifty thou- 
sand of their enemy ; and at the close of the battle, nearly 
15,000 Russians lay weltering on the plain, and several thousand 
prisoners were taken. 

After the battle. Prince Radzvil gave up the command of the 



REVOLUTION IN POLAND. 613 

army ; when Skrzynecki, who had displayed extraordinary 
bravery and skill, was chosen commander in chief. But this 
step led to the rankling enmity of Krukowiecki, the second in 
command to Chlopicki, who thenceforward meditated revenge, 
plotted, and afterwards proved a traitor to his country. 

The first step of Skrzynecki was to attempt to negotiate with 
Diebitsch. When he found his advances repelled, he prepared 
for the unequal struggle. 

The ice in the Vistula had now broken up, and the swamps 
were filled from the melting of the snow, and the roads were 
almost impassable for artillery and cavalry. Skrzynecki now 
determined to act on the offensive. On learning that Diebitsch 
had divided his forces, he led the Polish army of 25,000 men 
to Praga, and on the 31st, favored by the darkness of the night, 
approached the Russian camp, and fell upon the advanced 
guard of General Geismar, at Wawar, consisting of 8,000 men, 
intrenched in a very strong position, which force he nearly 
destroyed, capturing 4,000 prisoners, and taking a number of 
cannon. General Uminski had previously been despatched 
towards Ostrolenka, to keep in check the corps of General 
Sacken and the guards who were advancing there. ^ While the 
Polish advanced guard was engaged in combat at Wawar, 
General Rybinski, with his division, attacked the enemy's right, 
and carried it by the point of the bayonet; destroyed one entire 
regiment, and forced another to lay down their arms. The 
combat lasted two hours. Colonel Romarino's brigade here also 
distinguished itself. Skrzynecki next fell upon the corps of 
General Rosen, posted at Dembe Wielski with 20,000 men, who 
were unable to withstand the impetuous attack of the Poles. 
The Russians fled by way of Minsk, and made several efforts 
to sustain their positions as they received reinforcements, but 
were unable to sustain them. It was at .5 o'clock, P. M. when 
they arrived at Dembe Wielski, a position strongly fortified, and 
the resistance was obstinate. But the force of the artillery from 
the centre, and the vigor of the assault, completely routed the 
Russians, who fled with precipitation. 

By this masterly movement of the Polish commander in chief, 
20,000 Russians were thrown hors-de-combat, and many superior 
officers were captured during this day, so glorious to the Polish 
arms, besides taking two standards, fifteen wagons filled with 
ammunition, some thousand muskets, and fifteen pieces of can- 
non This victory occasioned but small loss to the Poles, owing 
to the rapidity and surprise with which their movements were 
executed. The regiment of scythemen (leucheurs) having 
demanded arms, the muskets left on the field of battle were 



614 CHAPTER XJU 

assigned them. The combat lasted till 10 at night. The army 
had then been actively engaged, fighting and marching, twenty 
hours. 

On the 9th, the Polish army gained a considerable victory, 
taking several cannon, and from 3,000 to 4,000 prisoners ; 
among them were 300 officers of different ranks. The head- 
quarters on the 10th were at Seidlec ; and on the same day, 
at that place. Marshal Diebitsch succeeded in uniting all his 
forces. From this time the Polish cause appears to have de- 
clined. 

General Dwernecki with a valiant corps entered Volhynia, 
surrounded by Russian corps under Generals De Witt, Keuts, 
and Rudiger. Dwernecki passed the Bug on the 10th, and on 
the 11th routed some Russian forces, took a number of prison- 
ers, some transports, and baggage. The left wing of the Rus- 
sian army, stationed at Kock, upon Veprez and Rudjew, fell 
back, and Marshal Diebitsch, baffled in his attempts, retired 
with the army across the river Bug, alarmed for his safety. 
Insurrections spread in his rear, in the provinces of Lithuania 
and Volhynia. A violent insurrection broke out at Wilna on 
the 28th of March. 

General Chrzanowski, with 8,000 men, cut his way through 
the Russians, and penetrated as far as the fortress of Zamosc. 
The greatest enthusiasm now spread through the Polish province 
of Samogitia. This expedition of Chrzanowski, by forcing his 
way through the enemy's detachments, was one of great daring. 
In three days he defeated the Russissiis three times, and took 
800 prisoners. These movements in Volhynia occasioned 
great uneasiness to the Russians, and obliged them to change 
their plan — that of attempting Warsaw in front by Praga. On 
the last days of April, Diebitsch retired with the Russian army 
beyond the river Bug. The barbarities of the Russians during 
this warfare against the patriots in Lithuania, were of the most 
revolting kind. 

April 26th, General Dwernecki surrendered his force, con- 
sisting of 4,000 men and 17 pieces of cannon, to the Austrians. 
He had been pursued by a superior force, and was under the 
necessity of passing into the Austrian dominions. Diebitsch, 
with the principal Russian army, retreated in the direction of the 
Bug and Narew, to gain the Prussian frontier, to relieve the suf- 
fering state of the army. At Thorn there was a great supply of 
provisions, ammunition, &c., waiting his approach. 

The Polish government issued a manifesto against Prussia 
for her shameful violation of the principle of non-interference. 
This conduct of Prussia destroyed all the advantages gained by 



REVOLUTION IN POLAND. 615 

Polish valor. The Prussians furnished supplies of every kind, 
and constructed bridges over the Vistula for the passage of the 
tlussian army. In many instances when the Russian troops 
Were forced by the Polish soldiers into the Prussian dominions, 
they were suffered to return with their arms, while the Poles in 
ail similar cases were retained prisoners. 

The conduct too of Austria was most outrageous. While the 
brave Dwernecki, the " cannon provider," was withstanding a 
greatly superior force on the Austrian frontier, the Russians 
passed over neutral ground to outflank him. He was followed in 
his retreat by the Russians who were allowed to retire, while 
tl.e brave, patriotic, and devoted champions of Poland were 
obliged to surrender themselves prisoners of war to the Austrian 
forces stationed on the frontier. 

While a Polish corps was at Minsk, Skryznecki united all his 
corps on the left, crossed the Bug, and forced his way to Ostro- 
lenka, a flank movement of 80 miles, and defeated the Russian 
guards at Tychosin. He then sent forward 300 Polish officers 
to Lithuania, there to organize the patriot forces. 

The sanguinary battle of Ostrolenka was fought on the 26th 
May, in which 20,000 Poles were opposed to 60,000 Russians. 
This battle was fought with an inveteracy unexampled — quarter 
was out of the question. The Poles having succeeded in pass- 
ing to the right bank of the Narew, they attempted to destroy 
tlie bridge. This they were unable to effect, as the Russians 
were protected by a numerous artillery placed on the opposite 
bank. Several regiments of Poles, under a most galling fire, 
attempted to arrest the progress of the Russians. The combat 
was for a long time one of slaughter ; they fought man to man, 
and thousands were killed by being thrown into the dyke which 
passes along the marshy shore of the Narew. The battle did 
not end till 12 o'clock at night, when the exhausted Russians 
retrograded as far as the bridge, and the PoHsh army commenced 
a retrograde movement unmolested, and fell back on Praga. 
The loss of the Poles in this battle has been stated at 4,000 men. 
The Russians suffered very severely and had three generals 
killed. The Russian guards are said to have displayed great 
bravery in the action. It was the object of Diebitsch to cut off 
the retreat of the Poles. The second Polish corps under General 
Lubienski displayed great gallantry on the 25th : it forced its 
way, at the point of the bayonet in a retreat from Chirchnowiec, 
through 40,000 Russians. 

It was subsequently ascertained that a correspondence had 
been kept up by traitors and Russian agents in Warsaw, through 
whose means Diebitsch was informed of the plans of the Polish 



616 CHAPTER XIll. 

commander m chief, and led to the disastrous battle of Ostro- 
lenka. On the same day that the battle of Ostrolenka was 
fought, General Chlapowski gained a victory over the Russiaas 
at Mariampol, commanded by General Sacken. 

The Russian commander in chief, Diebitsch, died suddenly at. 
Klfcchewo, June 19th, at that time the head-quarters of the Rus- 
sian array. He had been superseded a short time previous to 
his death by Paskewitch, who had greatly distinguished himself 
in the war against the Persians. Shortly afterwards, the Arch 
Duke Constantino died very suddenly. 

The Russian arms under Diebitsch in the campaign against 
enfeebled and distracted Turkey, acquired a fictitious celebrity ; 
but Russia has been entirely shorn of this fame by a handful of 
Polish patriots. Had it not been for this untoward war against 
Poland, Diebitsch's name might have descended to posterity as a 
renowned warrior. Poor Diebitsch became the laughing stock 
of all Europe ; and the botisted prowess of Russia has since been 
viewed in a very different aspect. Russia, in the height of her 
pride and in the full confidence of her strength, was about to 
march her legions upon France ; when the breaking out of the 
Polish revolution afforded her sufficient employment nearer 
home. If Poland, at the commencement of the revolution, had 
succeeded in establishing an energetic government, and possessed 
a leader fully competent to direct her valiant soldiers, the over- 
Dearing power and haughty pride of Russia might have been 
humbled to the dust. 

General Gielgud was sent with a force of 8,000 men into 
Samogitia, a district of Lithuania, and was for a time success- 
ful ; but was defeated in an attack on Wilna, and forced to 
retreat. On the 13th of July, the remains of the corps of Giel- 
gud and Chlapowski, reduced to 2,500 men, passed over into the 
Prussian territory, when General Gielgud was shot by a Polish 
officer. 

General Dembinski had entered Lithuania at Olitta, about 
55 miles west of Wilna, with corps to aid the insurgents. The 
failure of Gielgud before Wilna obliged him to retreat — he forced 
his way through the Russians, and arrived safely in Warsaw. 
This retreat was a masterly display of generalship. 

June 29th, a conspiracy was tliis day timely discovered in 
Warsaw, which was to set the Russian prisoners, thirteen thou- 
sand in number, at liberty. Several disaffected officers attempted 
to bring about a counter-revolution to favor the Russians. It 
was to be accomplished as follows : the prisoners having been 
allowed to go at large, they were to be supplied with arms ; and 
on a signal being given the powder mill was to be blown up, 



REVOLUTION IN POLAND. 617 

when a general attack was to be made on the citizens and 
national guard. General Janowski, one of the traitors, to save 
himself, made the discovery of this horrid conspiracy just in 
time to save Warsaw. • 

On the 14th July, General Chrzanski was attacked by Gene- 
ral Rudiger's corps, on this side of Minsk, five miles from War- 
saw ; when the Russians were defeated and forced to retreat, 
having 3,000 men killed, 900 prisoners taken, and 1000 muskets. 
On the 12th, the main army of Paskewitch was encamped be- 
tween Sisno and Kikal, and on the same day a great part of it 
passed the Vistula between Warsaw and the Prussian frontier, 
having received from Thorn a great number of barges and 
materials for bridges. The Prussians, to facilitate the passing 
of the Russians, had constructed a bridge over the Vistula at 
Drewenca. 

On the 13th of August, General Skryznecki resigned the 
command of the army to General Dembinski, compelled, by the 
force of circumstances, to do so, in order that faction might 
have no further pretext to injure his country. His letter of 
resignation on this occasion, is full of generous devotion to the 
cause of his country. The patriotic club, irritated with the 
measures of government and dissatisfied at not seeing General 
Janowski condemned, determined to take violent measures. To 
these acts they were instigated by the base Krukowiecki. On 
the 15th August, at 8 A. M. the club formally demanded that 
Skryznecki should be ordered to Warsaw. They then pro- 
ceeded to the castle, that was protected by 200 of the national 
guard, who made scarcely any resistance. On the same day, 
the patriotic club demanded the death of Janowski ; and on 
the 16th, the state prisoners concerned in the conspiracy for 
a counter-revolution, were murdered in their rooms by the 
clubists. Thirty-five persons were thus put to death without 
ceremony ; among them were Generals Janowski, Bulkowski, 
Hurtig, Salacki, and Benthouski, the Russian chamberlain, Fus- 
tiane, &c. 

During the night. General Krukowiecki was appomted 
governor of the city. He sent for a reinforcement, and his 
first measures were to put a stop to these horrors. August 
17th, the government was dissolved, and Krukowiecki was 
placed at the head of the new government, with very extended 
powers. He caused the arrest of the president and ten of the 
club, and appointed General Prondzynski to the chief command 
in the army. 

From the time that Krukowiecki came into power, he took 
measures to deliver Warsaw to the Russians, and made every 



618 CHAPTER XIII. 

attempt to induce the diet to demand an amnesty, and sent the 
main part of the Polish army to the right side of the Vistula, 
when the thunder of the Russian artillery was breaking over the 
devoted cif^. The proposals of Krukowiecki were repelled by 
the diet with indignation, who declared to the suspicious deputies, 
" rather will we die here in our places than stain the honor of 
our country." The traitor was deposed at midnight and a new 
governor of the city named, which gave new vigor to the faint- 
ins^ defenders of Warsaw. 

On the 6th of September, at daybreak, the Russian army of 
100,000 men and 300 pieces of cannon, advanced to storm War- 
saw, which was defended with great heroism. On the 8th, aftei 
two days hard fighting, it surrendered to Field Marshal Paske- 
witch. The Russians had 20,000 slain in storming Warsaw. 
The Poles lost about half that number in its defence. 

The government and the most distinguished citizens retired 
with the main body of the army, under the new commander in 
chief, Rybinski, upon Modlin and Plozk. The army, however, 
kept in three divisions instead of uniting, which could thus offer 
but a feeble resistance to the Russian forces. As a last resource, 
the Poles crossed the frontiers into the Austrian and Prussian 
dominions. Upwards of 1500 of the most distinguished leaders 
of the Polish revolution were arrested and imprisoned at War- 
saw ; and to complete the measures of oppression and vengeance, 
the Russian troops fired upon the prisoners confined in one of 
the wings of the prison, under the pretence of a revolt among 
the prisoners, though it was known that three-fourths of these 
were imprisoned for political offences. 

Of twenty-two Polish generals that became, in a manner, pri 
aoners under the amnesty, the greater part were sent to distant 
parts of the Russian empire, and but four returned to Poland. 
The soldiers were marched by thousands to Siberian exile, linked 
together by the wrists to bars of iron. The nobles were treated 
in the same ignominious manner, with their heads shaved, and 
consigned to the dungeons and mines of Siberia ; and the chil- 
dren were torn from their mothers, and carried off" to glut the 
vengeance of the Autocrat of all the Russias. 

Numbers of the patriots that escaped after the fall of Warsaw, 
when the army passed the frontiers, have gone into voluntary 
exile, and are now mourning over the calamities of their country, 
the loss of their homes, their wives, and their children. 

The Prussian government treated the Polish refugees that fled 
into her territory with horrible brutality, in order to force these 
now miserable and heart-broken outcasts into the iron fangs of 
Russian despotism. 



GREEK REVOLUTION. 619 

The recital of the barbarous deeds perpetrated by insatiate 
and {'aithless Russia on completing the subjugauon of Poland, 
cannot fail to fill with sorrow the breast of every friend to hu- 
manity : and it sickens the heart to think, that these wretched 
and trodden-down Poles are now perhaps for ever beyond the 
reach of all human aid. The French government, during the 
Polish struggle, a period of intense interest to the fervent and 
sympathizing Frenchmen, showed the blackest ingratitude and 
perfidy towards the chivalrous Poles. It was in vain that the 
good Lafayette lifted up his imploring voice in their behalf to 
the citizen King. It would seem, indeed, as if the nationality 
of Poland was now for ever blasted ; and the survivors of this 
once noble race of warriors and patriots were destined, by seve- 
ral of the arbitrary governments of Europe, to be hunted down 
like beasts of prey. 

Russia is at present erecting a citadel at Warsaw, intended 
to overawe the Poles for the future. The cost of the building, 
20,000,000 florins, is to be extorted from the oppressed citizens 
of Warsaw. 



CHAPTER XIV. 



Greek Revolution. War between Russia and Turkey. England, 
from A. D. 1816, to the passing of the Reform Bill, A. D. 1832. 

Among the extraordinary events of the 19th century, there is 
none that occasioned more thrilling interest at the time, than the 
protracted and fearful struggle made by the modern Greeks to 
gain their independence. 

The classic soil of Athens and Sparta, Thebes and Corinth, 
for the last four centm-ies had been profaned by Turkish despot- 
ism. It was the same soil that, 2500 years ago, was the seat 
of learning and the abode of free institutions. It was the land 
of Homer and Demosthenes, Solon and Pericles, that, after the 
slumber of ages, was awakened to new life. 

The struggle, of which we are about to give a faint and rapid 
sketch, is the one made by the modern Greeks to achieve their 
country's independence, and elevate Greece to an equal rank 
with civilized nations. And though this people had been so long 
under the most debasing slavery, they nevertheless displayed, 
during this momentous struggle, numerous deeds of valor worthy 
their renowned ancestors. 

Before entering on this eventful revolution, which began in 
the Morea, March 23, 1821, it will be necessary, in order fully 
to understand its origin, to state, that some years before the 



620 CHAPTER XIV. 

commencement of hostilities the patriots of Greece founded, iri 
1814, an association called the Hetaria. There was a society 
established at Vienna the same year, of which Count Capo 
d'Istrias was one of the first members ; but it did not publicly 
avow any political designs. The head-quarters of this society 
were at St. Petersburg, whither many of the most distinguished 
Gi'eeks repaired under the pretext of having commercial busi- 
ness to transact. 

The Greeks it appears had, at different times, been called 
upon by Russia to shake off the Turkish yoke, namely, in the 
years 1769, 1786, and 1806 ; and a society, avowedly for the 
liberation of Greece, was formed in Paris in 1809. It was found 
that the beginning made in 1814, was too early to insure suc- 
cess. A people who had long been kept in an abject state of 
slavery, needed first a due preparation and a general diffusion 
of knowledge ; and the plans for such a weighty undertaking 
required to be well matured. 

The intercourse kept up with France, was of great conse- 
quence in forwarding the cause of liberty in Greece ; and the 
revival of literature and the spread of science, brought with it 
an ardent desire for their country's freedom. This was further 
promoted by giving them the works of Goldsmith, Franklin's 
Poor Richard, Fenelon, and Montesquieu, which were translated 
into modern (rreek at Athens, Saloniki, Smyrna, &c. ; and 
schools were established, that were subsequently swept away 
by the war. 

The Hetaria, or society of friends, kept up an active corres- 
pondence with the Greeks in different parts of Europe, who 
hastened to join it ; while some men of the highest standing 
visited St. Petersburg to further their designs, and even looked 
to Russia for aid. When this hope was found to be fallacious, 
the Greeks resolved to begin themselves. The first movement 
was made by Czemi George, in 1817, an exiled chief of Servia, 
who was suddenly to appear in Servia, his native province, 
while Galati, and other Grecian chiefs, were to raise the stan 
dard in the south of Greece, and the Morea. Czerni George, 
the Servian, was treacherously betrayed and murdered on hia 
way by Milosh, a relative and former friend, and his head 
sent to Constantinople. Count Galati retired to Bucharest, and 
there shortly afterwards died. The next attempt was arranged 
for 1825. 

In the mean time some chiefs, burning with desire for the 
glorious cause of freedom, began the revolution. These were 
M. Suzzo, hospodar of Moldavia, one of the Hetarists ; Alexan- 
der Ypsilanti, a major general in the Russian army, and Prince 



GREEK REVOLUTION. 621 

Catacuzene. Ypsilanti was to begin hostilities beyond the 
Danube, while all Greece was to be summoned with a procla- 
mation ; and to render their measures more certain, an explosion 
was to take place at Constantinople. 

Ypsilanti began before Moldavia was prepared to co-operate. 
His proclamation was energetic, and called on all Greece to 
shake off the Turkish yoke. It roused the Moldavians, and 
Ypsilanti took possession of Bucharest, the capital of Walachia. 
containing 80,000 inhabitants. But Russia disclaimed all parti- 
cipation in a manifesto which she publishod. Suzzo gave up 
the command in Moldavia, and the plot at Constantiiiople was 
frustrated. A chieftain who joined Ypsilanti, was suspected of 
treachery. He was arrested and beheaded. This was Vladi- 
miresco ; and the price of his correspondence with the Porte 
was, that he was to be made hospodar. 

Ypsilanti was now forced to retire from Bucharest before 
10,000 men, who entered the city without firing a shot. The 
Hetarists who fell into the hands of the Turks were impaled 
alive, and numbers of children hung up by their feet along the 
roads. The monasteries were entered, and the inmates butch- 
ered. Prince Ypsilanti retreated to Tergovist, followed by the 
Turks. A battle was fought at the monastery of Dragachan, 
on the morning of June 17th. The Turkish infantry charged 
with loud shouts, but were repulsed with the bayonet. A second 
charge was repelled with equal firmness. At this juncture, the 
cowardice and treason of Caravia, an officer of cavalry, 
changed the fate of the patriot army. He turned round and 
fled, and immediately the whole army was in confusion. Gior- 
gaki, with his corps, displayed great firmness during the route. 
The sacred band of about 400 or 500 young Greeks stood firm, 
while the rest fled and crossed the Oltau ; these sustained the 
shock of 1500 Turkish cavalry. They sold their lives nobly, 
determined to fall rather than yield. The disparity in numbers 
was too great for success, when about 400 fell. Such an exam- 
ple of patriotism had a most salutary effect on the Greeks. The 
army of Prince Ypsilanti being annihilated, he repaired to 
Trieste, intending to rejoin his countrymen in the Morea. The 
Austrian government seized him, and imprisoned him at the 
castle of Montgatz, in Hungary. 

When the intelligence of the insurrection in Moldavia reached 
Constantinople, the Sultan issued immediate orders to disarm all 
the Greeks in the empire, and a war of extermination at the 
capital commenced. The Greek patriarch, Gregorius, was mur- 
dered on the 22d April, the day of the greatest festival of the 
Greek church, and his body dragged by Jews through the streets 



622 CHAPTEE XIV. 

of Constantinople. Several other ecclesiastics shared the same 
fate, and a number of Greek churches were destroyed, which 
exasperated the Greeks to a degree of desperation, who saw 
that nothing short of extermination awaited them. The priests 
in the islands of the Morea, from the atrocious acts at Constan- 
tinople, saw themselves doomed to certain destruction. They 
therefore exerted themselves strenuously, to inspire the people 
to resistance and vengeance. 

By the 1st of April, the excitement became general. The 
mhabitants of Patras were disaffected by the exorbitant levies 
of the Turks. Mutual distrust began between Greeks and 
Turks — each prepared for the worst. Hostilities were first 
opened by the inhabitants of Suda, a large village near Cala- 
vrita, in the northern part of Arcadia. At Patras, the Greeks 
refused to give up their arms, when the Turks fired with cannon 
upon the place from the forti'ess, and soon took possession of it. 
Germanos, archbishop of Patras, assembled an army of 4,000 
peasants, and took the city from the Turks. The scene that 
followed ended in the destruction of three hundred houses and 
pillage. 

In the islands of Hydra, Spezzia, and Ipsara, the greatest 
activity was displayed in fitting out ships of war, the united force 
of which was eighty or ninety vessels of 10 or 12 guns each ; 
and fifty or sixty smaller vessels were supplied by other islands. 
The flag hoisted by the Greeks, consisted of eight blue and 
white horizontal stripes. The superior activity of the Greek 
navy was soon shown. 

The first Turkish fleet left the Dardanelles on the 19th of 
>fay, and was followed by the Greek fire-ships. On the 8th of 
June, they burned a ship of the line, ashore near Tenedos — 
compelling the Turkish fleet to put back to the Dardanelles. 

The Ipsariots landed on the coast of Asia Minor, and took 
possession of Cydinia, which was soon after retaken by the 
Turks, and the inhabitants murdered and driven away to the 
number of 35,000. It must be kept in mind during this strug- 
gle, that the islanders displayed higher traits of pacriotism and 
valor than the Moreots ; in which the women took part in this 
struggle for liberty. The Turks next disarmed Candia, and 
executed the archbishop and several clergymen. The pejusants 
in the mountains and suburbs of Candia would not give up their 
arms : they united and succeeded in driving the Turks back into 
the towns, though they were thousands strong. 

In the month of November, the island of Cyprus was disarmed, 
and nearly all the inhabitants of Larnica murdered. The pea- 
siintry for uniting in their defence, had, in the month of August, 



GREEK REVOLUTION. 623 

1822, their villages, sixty -two in number, burned. In the mean 
time the great Turkish fleet supplied their garrisons in the Mo- 
tea with arms, ammunition, &c. 

The cause of Greece received a new impulse by the arrival 
of Demetrius Ypsilanti, and Prince Alexander Cantacuzene. 
After some difficulty, Ypsilanti was appointed commander in 
chief, July 24, 1821, of the Peloponnesus, the Archipelago, and 
all the liberated provinces. There was at this time dissensions 
amongst the Greek leaders. Tripolizza, the chief fortress of the 
Turks, was besieged by Demetrius Ypsilanti, and 8,000 Turks 
perished. It was in this fortress the Greeks obtained their first 
heavy cannon ; and it became the seat of government till it was 
transferred to Argos. In Thessaly, Ulysses with several other 
leaders or capitani, defeated near Thermopylae, a Turkish army 
which had advanced from Macedonia. Prince Mavrocordato 
received the chief command of the Albanian forces ; when the 
government began to acquire some form, after much difficulty 
and dissention. Prince Mavrocordato succeeded, Jan. 13, (Jan. 
1,) 1822, in establishing an approximation to a federative con- 
stitution at Epidaurus, until the second national assembly in 
Astro, March 14, 1823. At this convention more than 60 depu- 
ties attended. 

The western part of Greece, Arcania, iEtolia, and Epirus, 
sent 30 deputies to Missilonghi, who, under the presidency of 
Alexander Mavrocordato, formed a government consisting of ten 
members. 

The eastern part of the main land sent 33 deputies to Salona, 
under the presidency of Theodore Negris, forming the Areopa- 
gus of 14 members, November 16 ; and the Morea, or Pelopon- 
nesus, with the islands of Hydra, Ipsara, Spezzia, &c. sent to 
Argos 60 deputies, who assembled, December 1st, under the 
presidency of Prince Demetrius, and established the Peloponne- 
sian Gerousia of 20 members. 

These three governments, Missilonghi, Salona, and Argos, 
were to prepare a permanent constitution. With this view, 67 
deputies from all the Greek provinces, formed the first national 
assembly in Epidaurus, Jan. 10, 1822, under the presidency of 
Mavrocordato ; and on the 13th, proclaimed the constitution, 
(which was provisionary) and on the 27th, the congress of Epi- 
daurus issued a manifesto, in which they pronounced the union 
of the Greeks, under an independent federative government 
The central government was fixed at Corinth, and some time 
after at Argos. 

We are obliged to pass over many of the movements, till 
the arrival of the great Turkish fleet, April 11, when 15,000 



624 



CHAPTER XIV. 



barbarian Asiatic troops were landed at Scio : and soon tiiis 
delightful and flourishing island was changed into a scene of 
fire and blood. Down to May 25th, the Turks, according to 
their own lists, sold into slavery, 41,000 Sciots, mostly women 
and children. 

The Capudan Pacha was next prepared to desolate Ipsara. 
Tine, and Samos ; but the Ipsariots, with 70 small vessels and 
fire-ships, hovered round the Turkish fleet, and in the night- 
lime, rowed among their ships, while yet they lay in tlie road 
of Scio, and attached fire-ships to the Capudan Pacha's vessel, 
which blew up with 2,286 men ; and the Pacha himself, mor- 
tally wounded, was carried ashore, where he died. Another 
ship of the line narrowly escaped. These daring acts of the 
Ipsariots stupified the Turks ; from which, when they had reco- 
vered, they destroyed the lust traces of cultivation. 

The savage fury of the Turks about this time may be judged 
by the fact, that they bought the wretched Sciots at Gonstanti. 
nople, merely for the pleasure of putting them to death. The 
Pacha of Saloniki, (Abbolubut.) boasted that he had destroyed 
1500 women and children in one day. 150 villages and 5,000 
Christians experienced the fate of Scio. While all these horrors 
were taking place, Mavrocordato, president of the executive 
council, was organizing the government, which met with resist- 
ance from the avariciousness of Coloctroni and others. 

It had now become important to cover Missilonghi, the strong 
hold of western Hellas, from the weakened state of the army. 
Mavrocordato, with 300 men, and Marco Botzaris, with 22 Suli- 
ots, on the 5th of November, threw themselves into Missilonghi ; 
while 11,000 Turks advanced against it. Another force of 
25,000 under Khurshid, principally cavalry, passed Thermopylse, 
and as they advanced through Livadia, laid every thing waste, 
and occupied Corinth. In attempting the passes of Larissa, 
Khurshid was repelled three times by Ulysses. Khurshid died 
Nov. 26. Most of this cavalry perished for its rashness in the 
defiles of the Morea ; and the remainder formed a junction with 
5000 men, of Jussaf Pacha's army, and sent reinforcements to 
Napoli di Romania. The Greek fleet kept the great Turkish 
fleet from affording relief to this place. Ulysses, Coloctroni, 
and Ypsilanti, now prosecuted their operations with great zeal, 
and drove the Turkish forces out of the Morea. Niketas fell 
upon them in the defiles of Tretes, and only 2,000 escaped to 
the Isthmus of Corinth, where Ypsilanti fell upon and destroyed 
them. More than 20,000 Turkish soldiers perished in less than 
four weeks. In Greece, there were yet some thousand Turks, 




Storming of Warsaw. P. 620. 




Fall of Missolonghi. P. 634. 



GBEEK REVOLUTION. 625 

that held the Isthmus and the Acrocorinthus, that were soon 
after dispersed and destroyed. 

I'he Turkish fleet left the Gulf of Lepanto, where it had failed 
against Missilonghi. It was unable to break the line of 57 Greek 
ships blockading Romania, and at last came to anchor off Tene- 
dos. Nov. 10, a small number of Ipsariots carried fire-ships 
among the fleet, and fired the ships of^ the admiral and the capi- 
tan Bey. The latter was blown up with 1800 men. Three 
frigates were wrecked on the coast of Asia, and a vessel of 36 
guns captured. Of 35 vessels, 18 only returned much injured 
to the Dardanelles. The 17 Ipsariots who had done these 
exploits, arrived in safety at Ipsara, and Kanaris and Mniauly 
were rewarded, by the Euphori, with naval crowns. Again the 
Greeks were masters of the sea : it enabled them to blockade 
the Turkish forts, which was acknowledged by Great Britain. 
The change of ministry in England was most fortunate for 
Greece. With Canning as premier, and Maitland lord commis. 
sioner of the Ionian Isles, they had less hostility directed against 
them. Omar Vrione was repulsed by Mavrocordato and Bot- 
zaris, before Missilonghi, where he lost his cannon. Napoli di 
Romania was taken from the Turks Dec. 12, (new style.) 

A proclamation to the European powers was issued April 15, 
1822, which the Holy Alliance considered incompatible with 
their viev/s on legitimacy, though disposed to be lenient towards 
the suffering state of Greece. The dissensions among the Greek 
leaders, had an unfavorable influence on their cause with the 
European cabinets. Coloctroni meditated a division of the Morea 
into hereditary principalities. 

The central government called a second national assembly at 
Astro, Jan. 1823, which averted a civil war ; while the judicious 
measures of Mavrocordato tended to bring about concord. When 
the national assembly opened, March 14, at Astro, it consisted 
of 100 members. Mavromichalis was elected president ; Theo- 
dore Negris, secretary ; and the perfidious and avaricious Coloc- 
troni submitted to the assembly. 

Condurioti was chosen president of the legislative, and Petro 
Mavromichalis, Bey of Maina, of the executive council. Both 
legislative bodies resolved to raise about 50,000,000 piasters, to 
levy and equip 50,000 men, and 100 large men of war. The 
French military code was adopted. This assembly proclaimed 
the new constitution of Astro, April 23d, 1823. Several changes 
took place in the ministry. Mavrocordato was made president, 
and Coloctroni, vice president. 

This year the Sultan had determined upon exterminating tho 
suffering Greeks. Mavrocordato was placed at the head of 

40 



626 CHAPTER xrv. 

the army, and Orlandi, a Hydriot, organized the navy, now 
consisting of 403 sail, with cannon. The largest ship carried 26 
guns, and Miaulis was admiral ; M. Tumbasis of Hydra, George 
Demitracci, of Spezzia, and Nicholas Apostoles, of Ipsara, 
vice admirals. The financial department met with much dif- 
ficulty. In March, the fleet had gained a victory over the 
Egyptian flotilla, destined for the invasion of Candia, though it 
was unsuccessful in its attempt to prevent the landing of Turk- 
ish troops. 

M. Botzaris, the Suliot, now commanded the forces in western, 
and Ulysses in eastern Greece. The battles fouglit during this 
year, were not less fierce and sanguinary than those in 1822. 
M. Botzaris surprised the Turkish camp at Carpinissi, at mid- 
night, with 500 Suliots, and penetrated to the tent of the Pacha 
of Del vino ; but in the moment of victory received a mortal 
wound. The victory, however, was^ completed by his brother 
Constantine. The noble Botzaris as he expired, exclaimed — 
" How sweet it is to die for one's country." The defeat of the 
Turks was complete, all their baggage and artillery being taken, 
and the Pacha made prisoner. 

The members of government wen, at Argos, in November, 
1823. About this time the campaign was finished, though a 
partizan warfare continued in Thessaly and Epirus. Societies 
in England aided the Greek cause by means of loans, and by 
supplies of arms. 

The illustrious poet. Lord Byron, took a deep interest in the 
struggle made by the Greeks to throvv ofl" the Mohammedan 
yoke. His zeal led him to offer his personal and pecuniary aid 
in their cause. He embarked August, 1823, with five or six 
English friends, in an English vessel he had purposely hired, 
and arrived in Greece at the beginning of the third campaign, 
where he was received with marked distinction. On his arrival 
at Cephalonia, where he first established himself, he addressed 
a letter to the Greek government, and was induced by the infor- 
mation he received, to advance 12,000Z. for the relief of Missi- 
longhi, where he afterwards, with Col. Stanhope, took an active 
part in organizing the artillery. Byron himself established 
printing offices and schools in Missilonglii. He also took 500 
Suliots into his pay ; but found them very refractory and unwil- 
ling to march with him as he designed upon Lepanto. Tliis preyed 
greatly upon his spirits, and he soon after became dangerously 
ill, and died at Missilonghi, April 19, 1824. His death was 
solemnized by a general mourning of twenty-one days. 

The Turks began the campaign of 1824 with much more vigor 
than it had previously been carried on. Peace being concluded 



GREEK KEVOLUTiON. 627 

witli Persia, July 28th, 1823, and a rebellious Pacha of St. Jean 
d'Acre, having yielded voluntary submission to the Porte, it was 
enabled to send forces from Asia, and those that had been sta> 
tioned in Moldavia and Walachia now evacuated. 

The preceding campaign nad taught the Turks, that the de- 
struction of the Greek navy was their only means of succeeding 
in subduing Greece. The Capudan Pacha, Khosru, sailed from 
Mitylene, July 3d, with two ships of the line, eight frigates, four 
corvettes, forty brigs, and smaller vessels to the amount of 200. 
Among the latter were a number of neutral transport ships, 
belonging to the Russians, Austrians, and others, hired by the 
Capudan Pacha, that sailed from the Dardanelles, April 28th. 
The Pk-ussians were now on the most friendly terms with the 
Grand Seignior, and aided the Turks with transport ships. 
There were besides, Austrian, Italian, and Spanish vessels, en- 
gaged against the liberties of Greece. 

To oppose the armament of the Capudan Pacha, the Ipsa- 
riots had 2,500 men, the entire male population, and a corps of 
Albanians and fugitive Sciots, about 1,500 in number, divided 
into four companies. Their forces were provided with batte- 
ries, ammunition, &c. The Turks landed silently in the night, 
in spite of the vigilance of the islanders, and advanced in three 
columns. One advanced upon the town, and two proceeded to 
the batteries, taking them in the rear, when the most horrible 
butchery was perpetrated. Five hundred Albanians shut 
themselves up in fort St. Nicholas, which defended the town. 
Wretched and afflicted mothers first flung their children from 
high precipices, and then cast themselves into the sea. The 
Albanians in the fort barricaded the gates, and killed half of the 
first assailants. 

The Turks concentrated their forces to reduce the fort, and 
during the night made a dreadful assault upon the Christians, 
who in defence performed prodigies of valor ; but unable longer 
to withstand the overwhelming force of the barbarians, they 
threw open the gates, suffered 2,000 men to rush into the fort, 
till it was entirely filled, and on a concerted signal, in an 
instant all were blown up, and buried amidst its ruins. This 
took place on the fourth of July. By the disasters of Ipsara, 
4,000 Christians perished, besides the total destruction of all 
property ; with 100 vessels of different sizes, belonging to the 
islanders. 

Admiral Miaulis, with the Greek fleet, arrived before Ipsara, 
on the 8th of July, when the Turks immediately put to sea, and 
numbers were captured. The Greeks, on landing at Ipsara, 
found nothing but ruins and heaps of putrid corpses ; but the 



628 CHAPTER XIV. 

dreadful stench obliged them to retire from this scene of horror 
The atrocities perpetrated at Ipsara by the barbarians, at once 
roused up all the energies of Greece with dire revenge. 

The next attempt of the Capudan Pacha, was upon Samos. 
Kanaris, the brave Ipsariot, with a fire-ship destroyed a 40 gun 
frigate under sail ; and several transports shared a similar fate, 
besides a Tunisian brig of war, and a large Tripolitan corvette. 
On the 21st, another fleet of transports destined for Samos, 
were dispersed and partly destroyed. The following day, the 
Turkish fleet attempted to make the passage from Cape Tro- 
gilium to the opposite shore ; but the appearance of two or 
three fire-ships caused such terror in the Ottoman fleet, as to 
drive it in disgrace on the Asiatic coast. Some time afl;er, 
a junction took place between the Egyptian vessels and 
those of the Capudan Pacha, intending to return to Samos. 
The skill and boldness of the Greeks destroyed a number of 
these with their fire-ships, and thus astounded the Turks with 
their deeds of valor, who were glad to effect a retreat to the 
Dardanelles. 

In November, the Egyptians sustained severe damage froni 
their enemy on the northern coast of Candia. The forces of 
the Greeks successfully repelled their barbarian invaders by 
land, so that the campaign of 1824 was glorious for Greece, and 
its prospects more cheering than had appeared at any time pre- 
vious. This gladdening prospect continued up to the beginning 
of February. 

The government of Greece now began to assume harmony and 
strength, and commerce revived. Their army was attempted to 
be organized after the European tactics ; justice was regularly 
administered, and freedom of the press allowed. In Missilonghi 
four newspapers were issued twice a week. In the midst of these 
cheering prospects for Greece, an Egyptian fleet which had been 
delayed some months, sailed on the 19th July, from Alexandria, 
consisting of nine frigates, four corvettes, forty brigs and gal- 
liots, with 18,000 troops in 240 transports. This armament, 
under Ibrahim Pacha, was designed to subdue and desolate the 
Morea. The Egyptian and Turkish fleets united in the gulf 
of Bodroun, Sept. 4th, where a naval action ensued. Kanaris 
blew up a 44 gun Egyptian frigate and a brig. The fleets tnen 
separated ; the Turkish fleet returned to Constantinople, and 
Ibrahim's fleet to the gulf of Bodroun. Soon after, Miaulis 
attacked it off" Candia, and destroyed a frigate, 10 small vessels, 
and 15 transports ; when he retired to Rhodes, further weak- 
ened by the plague on board his ships, and frustrated in his 
plana of conquering the Morea. 



GREEK REVOLUTION. 629 

Notwithstanding the critical situation in which Greece waa 
now placed by the power of l^gypt being exerted against her, 
we find the peninsula in the most distracted state by the dissen- 
sions and broils of the capatani. In October, the election for the 
third term commenced. The executive council at Napoli di 
Romania, consisted of 63 members. The president, Mavrocor- 
dato, resigned, and Panuzzo Notaras was chosen his successor. 
Coloctroni was disappointed in his ambitious views. Some other 
disaffected chiefs raised the standard at Tripolizza, under the 
command of Panes Coloctroni. Troops were sent thither, by 
the command of Condurioti, and after several battles, the rebels 
were defeated and dispersed, and Panes Coloctroni killed. About 
this time the famous Amazon Bobolina, a follower of Coloctroni, 
was assassinated. Ulysses entered into a secret treaty with the 
Turks, but was defeated and captured. In attempting to escape 
from a tower he received a fall, and died in consequence thereof. 
Coloctroni, the father, finding himself deserted, surrendered him- 
self up in December, 1824. Several other leaders of this rebel- 
lion fled, and the rest were seized. 

The government now exerted itself to carry into effect the 
provisions of the law, and keep up discipline in the army. The 
annual revenue the Porte received, from the Peloponnesus alone, 
amounted to 3.5,000,000 Turkish piastres. 

In the campaign of 1825, Ibrahim Pacha landed his troops in 
the Morea ; and Missilonghi was besieged by Redschid Pacha, 
aided by the fleet of the Capudan Pacha. This calamitous event 
was owing to the treachery and dissensions of the Greek chiefs, 
which permitted Ibrahim to land between Coron and Mordon, 
February 22, 1825, an army of 4,500 men ; and the next 
month his force was augmented to 12,000, drilled with French 
officers, after the European tactics. He had besides, an excel- 
lent body of cavalry. Ibrahim besieged Navarino, which soon 
fell into his power. He next pressed on to Tripolizza. Old 
Coloctroni was pardoned by the government, which received 
his assurances of fidelity ; and in May, 1825, the command of 
the Peloponnesus was entrusted to him. A third siege of Mis- 
silonghi was commenced April 22d. The Pacha's fleet lost 
several ships in an engagement with the Greek admiral, Sac- 
touri, near Cape d'Oro. Calamata and Tripolizza were taken 
by Ibrahim, who went on destroying every thing till he reached 
Argos. He then received a severe check from Coloctroni's 
army, which caused him to fall back to Tripolizza. When 
Ibrahim found that the Greeks would not obey him or submit 
to his authority, he put the men to death, carried the women 



630 



CHAPTER XIV. 



and children slaves to Egypt, and desolated every place within 
his reach. 

Missilonghi, defended by Noto Botzaris, the first among the 
brave, was now closely besieged by the Turks, having before 
it 35,000 land forces, and 4,000 by sea. After a severe contest 
of several days they were totally defeated, August 2d, 1825. 
The Turks lost 9,000 men. During this siege the brave and 
active Miaulis arrived with his fleet, and burned several of the 
enemy's ships, and forced the rest to retire. The siege of Mis- 
silonghi was raised October 2d, 1825, four months and a half 
from its commencement. 

In the mean time, Ibrahim was carrying terror with his arms, 
and desolating the Morea more widely ; and the government 
was in great danger, having entirely lost the confidence of the 
auxiliary societies in England, whose loans had been improperly 
laid out. At last the Greeks sent deputies to England, resolved 
to throw themselves on the protection of Great Britain. Before 
the arrival of their deputies, the English government had issued 
(Sept. 30,) a declaration of neutrality. But the alliance of the 
powers of Europe prevented the interference of any single power 
in behalf of Greece. 

Sir Stratford Canning, the English ambassador to Constant!, 
nople, set out in January, 1826, and on his way had a long inter- 
view at Hydra with Mavrocordato, and other Greek statesmen, 
with a view to inform himself respecting the state of Greece. 
He then proceeded to Constantinople, where he arrived the last 
of February. About the same time, (March,) the affairs of 
Greece were discussed at St. Petersburg, by Lord Strangford, 
the British resident minister there, and who had formerly been 
minister to Constantinople, and the Duke of Wellington, envoy 
extraordinary, who had been sent thither by Canning. A hope 
now began to be cherished, that the independence of Greece 
would be acknowledged by the Christian powers of Europe. 

The Pacha fully bent on reducing Missilonghi, had landed 
more troops in the Morea, in order to carry on a winter cam- 
paign. The affairs of Greece were, at this time, in the most 
gloomy state, having scarcely 6,000 men under arms to with- 
stand this rapacious foe ; while the money furnished by the 
friends of Greece for the equipment of the army, was squandered 
by the capitani. The French, at this time, were busy intriguing 
against the English agents, to the great injury of Greece. In 
the midst of all these disasters, the Greeks succeeded, Novem- 
ber 24th, in throwing into Missilonghi, besieged for the fourth 
time, a supply of ammunition and provisions for this garrison, 
which had so gallantly repulsed an attack, both by sea and land 



GREEK REVOLUTION. 631 

A. body of troops sent by Ibrahim against Corinth, was destroyed 
by Niketas. 

In December, the Greeks fitted out another naval equipment 
at Hydra, for the safety of Missilonghi ; where Miaulis, January 
8th, put to flight the Capudan Pacha's fleet ; which some time 
after returned, when another attempt made to throw supplies into 
the place, failed. On the 28th, Missilonghi was summoned to 
surrender, which was bravely set at defiance. The fleets had 
an engagement in the gulf of Pati'as, when Canaris destroyed 
with his fire-ships, a frigate and several smaller vessels. Ibra- 
him, dissatisfied with the Capudan Pacha, caused his dismission. 
The success of the battle enabled the Greeks to furnish Mis- 
silonghi with some farther supplies ; but they failed in attempt- 
ing it again, Feb. 12th, then blockaded by the Turco- Egyptian 
fleet. 

The siege of Missilonghi was carried on with vigor by Ibra- 
him Pacha alone, who had before it 25,000 men, and of these, 
9,000 were regular troops. He had before it forty-eight cannon, 
that had been sold him by the French ; and he was aided by 
Pierre Boyer, a general, (a Bonapartist,) notorious for his cru- 
elties in Egypt, Spain, and St. Domingo. The frequent over- 
tures made by Ibrahim to the garrison to surrender, during its 
bombardment, were rejected. The assault continued from Feb. 
28, till March 2d, when it was attacked by sea and land, with 
a loss to the besiegers of 4,000 men. The valor of the garri- 
son had sustained it for a fifl;h time, though it was nearly desti- 
tute of provisions. In a short time, the sufferings of the garrison 
became extreme, and the surrounding country was devastated 
by the barbarian forces. Their sufferings and heroic defence 
gained for Greece, many ardent and active friends in Europe ; 
and funds were immediately raised for the heroic sufferers. Mr. 
Eynard, of Geneva, made them a liberal donation, in addition 
to 50,000 francs he had before given ; and it was on his repre- 
sentation respecting the Greeks, that the committee of Paris 
voted 60,000, and that of Amsterdam 30,000. With these 
means supplies were sent, and the Greeks were successful in 
throwing some of them into the place, in the face of great dif- 
Acuities. From April 15th, Ibrahim directed all his attention 
to prevent supplies being sent from Zante in small boats. The 
situation of the besieged had now become truly deplorable. On 
the 17th and 18th they began to die of hunger ; the four follow- 
ing days, their horrors hourly increased. Mines were now pre- 
pared in various parts of the city to blow it up, as they were 
determined not to surrender. 

On the 21st and 22d, the Greek fleet under Miaulis, made an 



632 



CHAPTER XIV. 



attempt to relieve the sufferers that proved unavailing. His 
ships were too small to contend with the overwhelming fleet of 
Ibrahim, consisting of 6 ships of the line, 8 or 10 frigates, and 
90 vessels of different sizes. Missilonghi, at length reduced to a 
heap of ruins, fell April 22d, 1826. At midnight, about 2,000 
men, accompanied by women and children, rushed out on the 
batteries of the enemy ; 500 Greeks fell on the spot, while the 
rest, amounting to 1,800, under Noto Botzaris and Kitzos Isa- 
vellas, reached Salona, and afterwards fought at Athens. Those 
that remained in the city, about 1,000 in number, mostly women 
and children, with old men, blew the /n.' selves up by the mines 
that had been purposely prepared. At daybreak, the barbari- 
ans entered the city. Thus fell Missilonghi, which had so long 
been the strong hold of western Greece. The plain between 
Missilonghi and the mountains was covered with the dead bodies 
of the Suliots, who had been its most valiant defenders. Many 
escaped to the mountains. More than 3,000 pair of ears were 
cut off the dead, and sent as a precious trophy to Constantinople ; 
and above 5,000 women and children were made slaves. 

The annals of history can furnish but few instances of such 
ardor, firmness, and perseverance, as was exhibited by the 
Greeks, during this memorable siege. Mr. Meyer, a Swiss 
editor, in a letter he wrote a short time before the fall of this 
place, says — " A few days more, and these brave men will be 
angelic spirits, who will accuse before God, the indifference of 
Christendom for a cause which is that of religion. We are 
drawing near our final hour ; history will render us justice ; 
posterity will weep over our misfortunes. May the relation 
of the siege of Missilonghi, which I have written, survive me. 
I have made several copies of it." Lord Byron, who died at 
Missilonghi in April, had resided in that place since the begin- 
ning of January, of the same year. 

Missilonghi was fortified in 1823, under the superintendance 
of English officers ; and partly at the expense of a patriotic Eng- 
lishman, whose name, (Murry,) deserves to be handed down to 
posterity. It had been made the strongest hold in Greece. 

Ibrahim was now in possession of Modon, Coron, Navarino, 
and Patras ; and had already removed three pachas. It only 
remained for him to gain posaession of Napoli di Romania, to 
be master of the islands of the Archipelago. This fact at once 
opened the eyes of the European powers, who now looked with 
distrust on Ibrahim. 

Great exertions by societies in France, Germany, Switzer- 
land, and England, were made in behalf of the suffering Greeks, 
and many new societies were formed, when a change of me«- 



GREEK REVOLUTION. 633 

sures in the English ministry had a most decided influence on 
their destiny. By order of Canning, the Duke of Wellington, 
at St. Petersburg, had signed the protocol for the interference of 
the three great powers in behalf of Greece. It was the wish 
of Canning to adjust the difficulties between Greece and Turkey, 
without any reference to Russia ; but death, at this period, sealed 
his noble designs. 

While these measures were slowly advancing among the 
diplomatic corps, Ibrahim was desolating the Morea ; and the 
struggling Greeks, a prey to every kind of horror, were dying 
of hunger. 

June 17th, 1827, Athens capitulated to Redschid Pacha. Lord 
Cochrane now arrived witli steam vessels from England, to aid 
the Greeks ; and General Church had the command of the land 
forces. New dissensions arose at Napoli di Romania, and Pal- 
mades began to cannonade the city to force the payment of 
arrears. The executive fled to iEgina. In this state of des- 
peration, the Greeks looked to Russia, and chose Count Capo 
d'Istria as their president, who entered on his office January 
22d, 1828. 

In the mean time, a treaty for the settlement of Greece was 
signed July 6th, 1827, at London, by the plenipotentiaries of 
England, France, and Russia. This treaty was communicated 
to the ambassadors of the three powers residing at Constantino- 
ple ; and on the 16th August, their joint note was sent to the 
Reis Effendi. The Porte refused to admit the interference of 
the three powers, and further attempts to induce the Porte to 
listen to the mediation of the allied powers, proved unavailing. 
The Greek government proclaimed an armistice on the 25th, in 
conformity with the treaty of London. 

September 9th, the Turco-Egyptian fleet arrived at Navarino ; 
and on the 13th, a British squadron under Admiral Codrington, 
reached this bay. By the 22d, the French squadron, commanded 
by Admiral Rigny, and that of Russia, under Count Heyden, 
united. The admirals had an interview with Ibrahim Pacha on 
the 25th, and informed him of their determination to establish 
an armistice de facto, between Greece and Turkey. On the 
following day, Ibrahim attempted to sail from Navarino, but was 
prevented. When he found he would not be suflfered to remove 
his fleet, he commenced the work of destruction by burning 
houses, destroying vineyards, and the most wanton massacre of 
women and children. In consequence of these atrocious deeds 
the combined fleet entered the port of Navarino, to compel Ibra, 
him to desist from these brutal outrages. 

October 20th, the combined fleet passed the batteries, and bj 



634 CHAPTER XIV. 

2 p. M. were ready for action. The Turco-Egyptian fleet was 
drawn up in the form of a crescent ; their large ships presented 
a broadside, and between these small vessels intervened. The 
Allied squadron was led by the Asia, the ship of Admii-al Cod- 
rington, and was followed by the Genoa and Albion, and an- 
chored alongside a ship of the line, bearing the flag of Capitana 
Bey, and a large double-banked frigate ; while Moharem Bey, 
the commander of the Egyptian fleet, was on the other side of 
the Asia. The Turks brought on the action, by killing two 
Englishmen ; and it soon became general, raging furiously for 
four hours. It ended in the destruction of the Moorish fleet, 
that, a short time before, had consisted of 3 ships of the line, 
84 guns each ; a razee ; 16 frigates ; 27 large corvettes, from 

18 to 24 guns ; and the same number of brigs, with 6 fire-ships. 
Of this armament there remained afloat, after the action, but 20 
corvettes and brigs ; and these were abandoned. 

The intelligence of the destruction of the Moorish fleet at 
Navarino, was received with the liveliest joy by all the friends 
of Greece, both in Europe and America. This arose from the 
conviction that this blow had decided the freedom of the Greeks, 
who, during six years of extreme suffering, had been a prey to 
the most dreadful horrors. 

There was now an involuntary suspension of hostilities. 
Soon afterwards, the Greek pirates began to infest the seas,, 
which caused the admirals of the united squadron, to send a 
warm remonstrance to the legislative council of the Greeks. 
Aft;er some punishments had been inflicted upon the offenders, 
safety was restored in those seas ; but not until the British had 
destroyed the head-quarters of the pirates in Candia, February 
28th, 1828. 

The Porte was exasperated, in the highest degree, with the 
annihilation of its fleet at Navarino; and forthwith seized and 
detained all the vessels of the Franks at Constantinople, where 
they were kept from November 2d, till November 19 ; and 
even stopped all communication with the ministers of the Allied 
powers, till indemnification should be made for the destruction 
of the fleet. The Sultan, in the height of his rage, prepared 
for war, and used all the means in his power to inflame the pas- 
sions of the Moslems. In December, the ministers of the three 
powers lefl; Constantinople, when the Porte adopted conciliatory 
measures. In the mean time, all the Moslems from the age of 

19 to 50, had been called to arms. On the 30th, the Sultan 
Mahmoud heard that Persian Armenia had fallen into the power 
of Russia, where Paske witch had achieved a series of splendid 
victories. 



GREEK REVOLUTION. 635 

By this time, Capo d'Istria, the president of Greece, had 
appointed the able Tricoupi his secretary of state ; and had 
established a high national council, called Panhellenion. Feb. 
4th, at Napoli di Romania, he also established a bank, and re-or- 
ganized the military. France and Russia each lent 6,000,000 
francs to aid the new state. 

In consequence c f the death of Canning and a change of the 
English ministry, the battle of Navarino was called an untoward 
event. The Porte continued to reject every proposal for settle- 
ment with Greece, and during this time, Ibrahim was carrying 
away the Greeks into slavery. A war broke out, March, 1828, 
between Russia and Turkey, so that the Porte had, with this 
power alone, quite business enough to attend to. 

The French cabinet, in concert with England, now sent an 
army to the Morea, under the command of General Maison, 
which arrived August 29th, in the bay of Coron, near Petalidi ; 
and Admiral Codrington concluded a treaty with the viceroy of 
Egypt, Aug. 6th, for the evacuation of the Morea by Ibrahim 
Pacha, and for the liberation of the Greek prisoners, while those 
who had been carried away, were to be freed or ransomed. 

October 4th, Ibrahim sailed from Navarino with 21,000 men, 
for Alexandria, with the wreck of his fleet, leaving 2,500 in the 
Messinian fortresses. 

The French took undisputed possession of Navarino, and 
attacked and took the fortresses in Messina, so that Navarino, 
Modon, and Coron, were soon in their possession. Patras, with 
3,000 men, capitulated October 5th, and the flags of the three 
Allied powers, with the national flag of Greece, waved undis- 
puted over these cities. Admiral Rigny conveyed the Turks to 
Smyrna. 

To defend the Morea from any new attacks of the Turks, 
a manifesto was issued by the ministers of the three powers, 
Nov. 16, 1828, declaring — " That they should place the Morea 
and the Cyclades under their protection, till the time when a 
definitive arrangement should decide the fate of the provinces, 
which the Allies had taken possession of; and that they should 
consider the entrance of any military force into this country, as 
an attack upon themselves." A French agent carried this note 
to Constantinople;, to which an immediate answer from the Porte 
was required. But during this time, the Greeks continued active 
hostilities. Demetrius Ypsilanti, having under him Coloctroni 
and several leaders, and 5,000 men, marched into Livadia, and 
defeated the Turks, Nov. 2d, at Lomotico, and Dec. 3d, took 
Salona ; then in succession, Lepanto, Livadia, and Vonizza. 
The Greeks commenced fitting out a great number of privateers 



636 CHAPTER XIV. 

In consequence of these measures, the Sultan banished 25,000 
persons, Greeks and Armenians, not born there, from the city 
of Constantinople ; and the Sultan still declined to recall his 
barbarous edict of extermination. 

Through the energetic measures of Capo d'Istria, Greece began 
to recover herself after a long period of distraction. He divided 
the states of Greece into 13 departments, seven of these formed 
the Peloponnesus, with 280,000 inhabitants, and 8,543 square 
miles ; the eighth, the Northern Sporades, 6,200 inhabitants, 
106 square miles ; the ninth, the Eastern Sporades, 58,800 
inhabitants, 318 square miles ; the tenth, the Western Sporades, 
with 40,000 inhabitants, 169 square miles ; the eleventh, twelilh, 
and thirteenth, the Cyclades, (north, central, and south,) 91,500 
inhabitants, 1176 square miles. Total inhabitants, 476,500; 
square miles, 10,312. 

The Brititsh plenipotentiary presented his credentials to the 
president of Gi-cece, Nov. 19, 1828; and Colonel Fabier, after 
his return from France, took upon him the organization of the 
Greek army. On the delivery, at Constantinople, of the protocol 
of the three powers, in January, 1829, a verbal answer was 
given by the Reis Effendi, that the Porte wished for peace. In 
July, Sir Robert Gordon, the British amba'ssador, and Count 
Guillimont, from France, arrived at Constantinople. The sue- 
cesses of Diebitsch, who had crossed the Balkan mountains, and 
was on his way towards Constantinople, compelled the Turkish 
plenipotentiaries to sign a treaty, which recognized formally, in 
the sixth article, the treaty of July 6, 1827. Peace between 
Russia and the Porte was signed at Adrianople, Sept. 14, 1829, 
and was ratified by the latter, six days afterwards. 

Having brought down the affairs of Greece to the cessation 
of hostilities, it only remains to add a few particulars respecting 
the death of Capo d'Istria. This individual became exceedingly 
unpopular with the Greeks, from his supposed attachment to 
Russian interests, and the jealousy and impatience of restraint 
of the Greek chiefs. In the spring of 1831, the islands and 
province of Maina were in open resistance to the government. 
Miaulis, Mavrocordato, and Condurioti, demanded a convoca- 
tion of the national assembly, the liberty of the press, and that 
certain state prisoners should be liberated. The insurgents took 
possession of Poros, and the Greek fleet lying in the harbor. In 
August, the troops of the president attacked the town, while the 
Russian fleet was standing in to attack the Greek fleet in the 
harbor. Admiral Miaulis then blew up his ships, rather than 
suffer them to fall into the hands of the Russians. The city of 
Poros, deserted by its inhabitants, was reduced to ashes. In the 



GSEEK REVOLUTION. 637 

ntean time, the Mainots were actively engaged by land againat 
the government. 

The Russian fleet now appeared in the gulf of Coron ; when 
Miaulis, who had been co-operating with the Mainots with a 
small squadron, destroyed it lor the same reasons he had done 
with the ships at Poros. 

October 9th, 1831, as the president was going to attend ser- 
vice at the church, he was assassinated by two men, who had 
repaired purposely to Napoli di Romania. One fired a pistol at 
the head of Capo d'Istria, and the other stabbed him with a 
Turkish dagger, when he fell dead on the spot. These persona 
were George the son, and Constantine the brother of Mavromi- 
chalis, who had been imprisoned since January. Constantine 
was immediately killed by the guards of the president, and 
George was detained in custody. 

In 1832, the three powers obtained from the Grand Seignior 
a much more advantageous northern boundary line for Greece, 
than had been granted in 1830. The line is to run from the 
gulf of Volo, in the iEgian Sea, along a range of mountains, 
to the gulf of Arta, in the Adriatic. By tliis arrangement, 
Acarnania and iEtolia, chiefly inhabited by Greeks, are included 
in the kingdom of Greece — an acquisition of great importance, 
as it adds nearly 100,000, inhabitants, and almost 3,000 square 
miles to the new state. Besides the frontier line is more strongly 
marked, and will be easier of defence. 

This accession to Greece was obtained from the Grand 
Seignior for 50,000,000 of Turkish piasters ; which are to be 
deducted from the sum he had undertaken to pay to Russia. 

The present population of Greece is estimated at from 635,000 
to 900,000 souls. Its territory, including Acarnania, ^tolia, 
and the islands, is about 18,000 square miles, equal to about two- 
fifths of the state of New York, and about equal to it iu popula- 
tion. The Morea, or Peloponnesus, comprises 7,227 square 
miles, and nearly equivalent in extent to the state of Massachu- 
setts. The same treaty which fixed the boundary line, raised 
Otho, a Bavarian youth of seventeen years of age, to the throne 
of Greece ; who carried with him 3,500 Bavarian soldiers, when, 
as stipulated, the French troops were to be withdrawn. 

In the maintenance and aid of the new government, England, 
France, and Russia, have provided, and become responsible for, 
a loan of $3,750,000 ; and have further agreed to furnish, at 
two instalments, an equal amount, should it be required for the 
good of the country. This loan is to be refunded in due time, 
and the payment of the interest is provided for. 

King Otho, the new monarch of Greece, arrived at Napoli 



638 CHAPTER XIV. 

di Romania, Feb. 6, 1 B33. There were, at this time, in the 
port of Napoli di Romania, several ships of war belonging to 
England, France, and Russia. On the following day, Kmg 
Otho issued a proclamation, declaring his good intentions and 
well wishes for his adopted country, and engaging to protect tlie 
religion of the Greeks. 



War between Russia and Turkey. 

Hostilities between Russia and Turkey commenced at a most 
fortunate period for the safety of Greece. The Porte breathing 
vengeance, and intent on exterminating the entire Greek popu- 
lation, would listen to no terms of accommodation offered by the 
Allied powers. 

The battle of Navarino had, for the present, paralyzed the 
operations of Ibrahim Pacha ; and after such a signal chastise- 
ment of the infidels by the Allied powers, they could not honor- 
ably withdraw their future protection to the Greeks, who had so 
long been left to contend alone against their cruel oppressors 
and murderers. 

The Porte was led to consider that Russia secretly favored 
the Greek cause, and therefore took possession of Moldavia and 
Walachia, and put restrictions upon its maritime commerce. 
This was an open violation of the peace of Bucharest, on which, 
after an exchange of notes, the Russian minister left Constan- 
tinople ; but through the exertions of the ministers of Austria 
and England, and the desire of the Emperor Alexander to pre- 
serve peace, the commencement of hostilities was avoided. Still 
the Porte refused to give any satisfaction to the Russian court 
Things remained in this state till the Emperor Nicholas issued 
his ultimatum. May 14, 1826, when the Porte granted all the 
demands of the court of Russia, and promised that Moldavia 
and Walachia (where the Porte had derived, in three years, a 
revenue of 37,000,000 of piastei-s, to aid the prosecution of the 
war against Greece,) should be restored. October 6, 1826, at 
Ackerman, the Russian ultimatum was accepted. The Porte 
also surrendered all the fortresses in Asia to Russia. This 
treaty was executed in 1827. 

The Sultan Mahmoud had now nis hands full of other business. 
Having determined to reform his army, he began by exterminat- 
mg the corps of Janisaries, which he effected after a bloody 
battle, in June, 1826 ; when he formed his army on the Euro- 



WAR BETWEEN RUSSIA AND TURKEY. 639 

jiean system. The Sultan himself wore the European dress, and 
prohibited, throughout his empire, the calling of Christians, 
•' dogs." This new system of reform led to a violent insurrec- 
tion, and the loss of 6,000 houses in Constantinople. 

In June, 1827, the Porte refused the intervention of Russia, 
France, and England, for the settlement of Greece ; and seemed 
to bid defiance to the powers of Europe, by attempting to rally 
together all his subjects for war. 

Russia declared war against Turkey, April 26, 1828. In that 
document the emperor declared, that he would not lay down his 
arms till he had obtained the following results, namely : the 
payment of all the expenses of the war ; the acknowledgment 
of past treaties ; inviolable liberty of the commerce of the Black 
Sea ; the free navigation of the Bosphorus ; and lastly, the 
fulfilment of the convention of July 6th, for the pacification of 
Greece. 

The campaign opened May 7th, 1828, by the Russian army 
of 115,000 men passing the Pruth, under Count Wittgenstein, 
commander in chief. On the 19th, the Emperor's staff arrived 
before Brailow, of which Diebitsch was chief. June 15th, in 
attempting to carry this place by storm, the Russians lost 640 
men killed, two major generals, and 1340 men wounded. June 
20, Brailow surrendered to the Russians, on condition of the 
garrison being permitted to retire to Silistria. Two hundred 
and seventy-three cannon, besides a great quantity of balls and 
ammunition, were taken. Up to July 2d, the Russians had taken 
seven fortresses — Brailow, Matschin, Toultscha, Hirsova, Kus- 
tendji, Keuzgon, and Managalia. Toultscha was defended by 
91 cannon, and 2,000 men. 

August 7th, the Russian flotilla before Varna, attacked that 
of the Turks, and captured 14 vessels. On the 20th August, 
the Grand Vizier left Constantinople for the army. September 
20th, the Seraskier of Widdin was defeated by General Geismar, 
with great loss, and compelled to retreat. About the same time, 
a Russian manifesto issued at St. Petersburg, ordered a new levy 
of four men out of every 500 of the population. Varna was 
carried by assault after a siege of two months, October 11th. 
Its garrison originally amounting to 22,000 men, was reduced 
to 6,000. This was the most important fortress of the Turks ; 
and gave the Russians the command of the western coast of the 
Black Sea. On the 15th October, the blockade of the Darda- 
nelles was announced officially by Admiral Heyden. In July, 
the Turks retired into the strongly fortified mountain position of 
Shumla, where they had more than 40,000 men, under the com- 
mand of Hussein Pacha. 



640 



CHAPTEH XI /. 



The principal Russian force, 45,000 men, under Field Marshal 
Wittgenstein, with the Emperor, approached Shumla, while the 
operations were going on before Varna. The Grand Vizier cau- 
tioualy avoided giving battle to the Russians before Shumla. 
A-fter the fall of Varna, the Russian army fell back from Shumla, 
October 15. Silistria was besieged in September, and raised 
November 10th. The heavy artillery of the Russians was 
abandoned. While these operations were going forward. Gene- 
ral Paskewitch, after signal success in Persia, was advancing 
through Asiatic Turkey with a victorious army, and had gained 
a series of briUiant victories. By the 21st of September, the 
whole pachalic of Bajasid, as far as the banks of the Euphrates, 
was conquered. The approach of winter put an end to Ihis 
campaign, in which the Russians lost many men by disease and 
want of supplies. The loss of horses was great. The results 
of the campaigns in Europe and Asia, were, two Turkish prin- 
cipalities taken, three pachalics, fourteen fortresses, and three 
castles. Notwithstanding these losses of the Turks, the Porte 
refused the terms of accommodation offered, before and during 
this campaign, by the Emperor Nicholas, through the British 
ambassador, Lord Heytesbury, viz. indemnification for the ex- 
pense of the war, and security against future injuries and viola- 
tions of treaties. 

The Sultan prepared for a new campaign. General Diebitsch 
was appointed commander in chief of the Russian forces, Feb. 
21, 1829. The siege of Silistria was renewed on the opening 
of the campaign, under the direction of Diebitsch, May 17th. 
The Turkish army, commanded by the Grand Vizier, attacked 
the Russians posted near the village of Eski Arnaoutlar, at 
three in the morning. The battle lasted till 8 in the evening, 
when the Turks retired with the loss of 2,000 killed. On the 
17th of June, a great battle was fought at Koulevtcha, near 
Shumla — the Turks commanded by the Grand Vizier, and 
the Russians by Diebitsch. The battle was fought with great 
obstinacy ; when European tactics prevailed over Turkish 
courage. The Turks lost 5,900 killed, a great number of pri- 
soners, 43 pieces of cannon, 6 standards, all their ammunition 
Wagons, baggage, dec. 

June 30th, Silistria surrendered to the Russians. The garri- 
son consisted of 8,000 men, and the armed inhabitants that were 
made prisoners of war ; 220 pieces of cannon, 80 stand of colors, 
and 2 three-tailed pachas, were also taken, besides the whole of 
the Turkish flotilla. 

Immediately after the surrender of the fortress of Silistria, 
Diebitsch commenced preparations to pass the river Kamtchick 




Massacre of the Greeks. P. 636. 




Battle of Navarino. P. 636. 



WAR BETWEEN RUSSIA AND TURKEY. 641 

and the Balkan mountains. On the 17th of July, the camp 
before Shumla was left, and by the 22d, Diebitsch had attained 
the summit of the Balkan. In descending these mountains, 
the Russians encountered a Turkish force of about 7,000 men, 
under the Seraskier Abduhl Rahman, and defeated him, takmg 
4U0 prisoners, 12 cannon, and 7 standards. On the 23d, Mesem- 
bria was captured, with 20 standards, 15 cannon, and 2,000 pri- 
soners ; and on the same day Achioli was captured, containing 
14 pieces of cannon, ammunition, &c. 

When the Russian army reached the shores of the Black Sea, 
it was able to co-operate with the fleet under Admiral Greig. 
On the 24th of June, Bourgas was taken, with ten pieces of 
cannon, and abundance of military stores. On the 25th, Aidos 
was captured, with the whole Turkish camp, 600 tents, 500 
barrels of gunpowder, 4 standards, &c. 

August 19th, the Russians approached Adrianople, and the 
next day took unresisted possession of the place, where nego- 
ciations commenced. Sept. 14, a treaty of peace was signed. 
Russia agreed to the restoration of Moldavia and Walachia, and 
all the towns occupied by them in Bulgaria and Rumelia. Mol- 
davia was to have an independent administration and free trade ; 
and the Russians freedom of commerce throughout the Ottoman 
empire, agreeably to former treaties ; and free commerce and 
navigation of the Black Sea, to all nations at peace with Tur- 
key. The Porte stipulated to pay as an indemnification to 
Russia, 1,500,000 ducats of Holland, for the losses of Russian 
subjects : and a further sum, as should be agreed upon, as an 
indemnity for the expenses incurred in the war. And the Porte 
acceded to the terms of Russia, Great Britain, and France, for 
the settlement of the affairs in Greece. 

The indemnity for the expenses of the war, was arranged in 
a subsequent act, to be paid in instalments. On the first pay- 
ment, the Russian troops were to retire from Adrianople ; on the 
second, to repass the Balkan ; and on the third, to repass the 
Danube ; and on the fourth payment to evacuate the Turkish 
territory. So far, the Emperor Nicholas fulfilled his declara- 
tion and pledges to the Allies, on the commencement of the war 
— after having gained the objects for which it was undertaken. 
In this campaign, it has been stated, that the Russians lost 
200,000 men and 20,000 horses. 

It was stated in the papers at the time, that the Russian forces, 
at the commencement of the present campaign, amounted to 
541,731 regular troops, and 146,601 irregulars, making a total 
of 688,332. 

41 



642 



CHAPTER XIV. 



England, from A. D. 1816, to the passing of the Reform Bill, 

A. D. 1832. 



The course of policy pursued by the British cabinet, mainly 
brought about the restoration of Louis XVIII. to the throne of 
France, Its accomplishment loaded England with an enor- 
mous debt, as much in opposition to the wishes of the majority 
of Englishmen, as the restoration of the Bourbons was con- 
trary to the desire of the French nation. Since that event, 
the French have expelled the Bourbons ; and the people of 
England have succeeded, after an arduous struggle, in the 
overthrow of toryism, or more properly speaking, of military 
despotism. 

The glaring corruptions in the representation, and the abuses 
which existed in the " rotten-borough system," had long ago 
been clearly shown, by writers of great political knowledge ; 
and many of England's best and purest patriots had labored to 
correct the abuses which existed in their representation. The 
liberal journalists exerted themselves incessantly to effect this 
object, and it was repeatedly urged in parliament with great force 
of eloquence. 

The accession of WiUiam IV. who soon became the most 
popular monarch that had reigned in England, proved favorable 
to the cause of liberty. After the overthrow of the Duke of 
Wellington and his cabinet, William called a whig ministry, with 
Earl Grey at its head ; and this eminent statesman, with his 
colleague, Brougham, carried through the long and ardently 
desired reform, which, eradicating the " rotten boroughs," pro- 
vided for the free and equal representation of the people of Eng 
land in ])arliament. 

The measures of the English government having a njosi 
important bearing on the general policy of Europe, it will be 
requisite here to take a hasty glance at the public measures of 
British statesmen, more especially of those who have so essen- 
tially aided the new and more enlarged line of policy, in accord- 
ance with the spirit of the age, and opposed to the " slavish and 
despotic monarchies of Europe." 

In the 1820, George III. died, January 29th, at the age of 
82, after a reign of three-score years, the longest in the British 
annals ; when George IV. who had been regent since February 
3, 1811, succeeded to the throne of Great Britain. Earl L'ver. 
pool was nominated by the prince regent, first lord of the 
treasury, Jan. 9, 1812, and ccaitinued in office till 1827. His 



ENGLAND. 643 

prudence and moderation at home, were strikingly contrasted 
with the course pursued by Castiereagh, minister of the foreign 
department. This latter minister destroyed himself by sui- 
cide, August 12, 1822. On his interment in Westminster 
Abbey, popular indignation against his memory was strongly 
exhibited. And that this was not without reason, will appear 
by a reference to his many unfeeling and tyrannical measures, 
and his violations of the constitution. We are here constrained 
to offer a passing remark, on the public character of this minis- 
ter, whose true reputation is not generally known in this coun- 
try. Castiereagh was hated for his tyranny ; he was the dupe 
of courts, and the betrayer of the people. The part he took 
in the congress of Vienna, in parcelling out and trafficking 
away the rights of weaker states, to build up a military despot- 
ism throughout Europe, loaded him with the execrations of all 
those people whom he had so basely sold. His death was con- 
sidered in England as a happy event for the cause of liberty, 
which his measures had for so many years crushed. It will be 
seen, that the foreign policy of England underwent a complete 
change after his death. 

In 1816, the income tax was taken off from personal estate, 
capital, and colonial possession. This was but shifting the bur- 
den of taxation from landholders to the working classes, those 
great consumers of the necessaries of life ; who were now 
reduced to the greatest state o[ suffering. England for a time, 
surmounted all these difficulties, and even greatly increased her 
foreign trade. This V ept the manufacturing districts quiet, as 
long as they were well employed. 

In the month of August, 1816, a British squadron of five sail 
of the line and five frigates, under the command of Lord Ex- 
mouth, bombarded Algiers, and destroyed the Algerine shipping, 
batteries, and magazines : when the Dcy agreed to the total 
abolition of Christian slavery, and the release of all Christian 
captives in his dominions. A few months after this defeat the 
Dey was strangled, when piracy again flourished, till the French 
afterwards conquered this piratical city. 

The distresses in England led the populace to offer public 
iiisult, and assail the prince regent, in 1817, on his return from 
parliament to Carlton House. February 3, a royal message 
and accompanying documents were communicated to parlia- 
ment, giving information of the existence of societies, combi- 
nations, &c. in the metropolis, and throughout the kingdom, 
dangerous to the constitution ; and that insurrections had been 
planned. In consequence of this information, which was greatly 
exaggerated, the ministry took a high-handed course. Lord 



644 CHAPTER XIV. 

Sidmouth introduced a bill into the house of lords, for the sus- 
pension of the habeas corpus act, which passed into a law ; and 
Castlereagh was successful in carrying one to suppress debating 
societies, and unlawful organizations ; and a third bill waa 
passed, for punishing, with severity, all attempts to corrupt the 
army and navy. 

Sir F. Burdett, May 20th, again brought forward the ques- 
tion of parliamentary reform, in which he was aided by Sir 
Samuel Romilly. It was, however, lost, the votes being 265 
against 77. 

1818. One of the first measures, after the opening of par- 
liament, was the restoratien of the liberties of the people, by 
the repeal of the habeas corpus suspension act, accompanied 
by a bill of indemnity to screen the ministers for such a high- 
handed act. Sir Samuel Romilly declared, on the second 
reading of the indemnity bill, " that it annihilated the rights 
of individuals, and took all legal remedies from those who had 
suffered by an irresponsible and unconstitutional exercise of 
authority." 

In August, 1819, there was a meeting at Manchester, to dis- 
cuss the question of parliamentary reform. It should here be 
stated that spies, in the employment of government, had gone 
about the country, inflaming the minds of the people ; and these 
same wretches, when detected, were shielded behind the power 
of the ministry. This meeting at Manchester was of a peace- 
able character, and was estimated at 50,000 souls, including 
the wives and children of the petitioner?. There was no ap- 
pearance or intention of riot, nor were .here any arms among 
them. Mr. Hunt was the chairman, and during his speech, 
the assembly was charged by the military, and many lives were 
sacrificed in a most inhuman manner. This nefarious trans- 
action roused the indignation of the British populace. The 
distresses about this time, in the manufacturing districts, were 
heavily felt. The national debt, by a continuance of twenty, 
three years' war, had increased to about 900,000,000 pounds. 
Strong measures were taken to prevent public discussions. 
Ireland, at this time, presented nothing but a scene of conflict 
and misery. 

Earl Grey, in the house of lords, moved for an inquiry into 
the conduct of the Manchester magistrates, but was defeated ; 
and a similar attempt was made in the house of commons, and 
this also was voted down. The subject was renewed before 
the recess of parliament ; but these false guardians of public 
liberty refused to inquire into this most flagrant outrage on the 
rights of tlie people : instead of which, the minister intro- 



ENGLAND. 645 

duced several bills that became laws, to be continued five 
years. These have gone by the designation of the six acts. 
They were : 1st, a bill to take away the right of traversing, 
in cases of misdemeanors. 2d, for punishing any person found 
guilty, on a second conviction of libel, by fine, imprisonment, 
or banishment for life. 3d, for preventing seditious meetings. 
4th. to prevent private military trainings. 5th, the application 
of the severe stamp system to pamphlets under two sheets, and 
a more rigorous punishment of libels and seditious writings. 
6th, a bill giving magistrates the power of entering houses by 
night, or by day, for the purpose of seizing arms believed to be 
collected for unlawful purposes. 

1820. The death of George III. this year, produced no dif- 
ference in the public measures ; although the aspect of England 
was quite changed by the great increase of trade, and the dimi- 
nution of taxes, and by better harvests. The renewal of specie 
payments, and the increasing value of paper currency, was 
highly favorable to manufactures. The country was now reco- 
vering from the heavy burden of war, in which she had so long 
been engaged. 

A daring conspiracy to assassinate ministers, called the Cato 
street conspiracy, was detected, for which Thistlewood and four 
of his companions paid the forfeit of their lives, and four others 
concerned were transported for life to Botany Bay. 

July 19, 1821. The splendid coronation of George IV. took 
place at Westminster Abbey. 

On the death of the Marquis of Londonderry, better known 
as Lord Castlereagh, Mr. Canning was called to the cabinet, as 
secretary of foreign afiairs, Sept. 16th, 1822. One of the first 
measures of Canning, was to check the fanatic influence of the 
French in Spain. In 1823, England allowed her subjects to aid 
the Greeks, and even acknowledged their right of blockade. 
With the republics of South America, she formed treaties of 
alliance ; and in 1825, formally acknowledged the independence 
of the South American states. 

In the years 1825 and 1826, the commercial difficulties were 
great, occasioned by the speculation in foreign loans, and in 
the most costly undertakings, which led to bankruptcies, and 
gave an unusual shock to men of business. " Bankruptcies 
spread like a vast fog over England, America, France, and 
Germany, at the same moment. But the vigor of England is 
incalculable."* Seventy-five banks broke in the same number 
of days ; and 255 joint-stock companies, that, a week before, 

» Crol/s Life of George IV. 



646 CHAPTER xir. 

were in high credit, and ready for vast undertakings, were in 
the Gazette. And yet after such sweeping desolation, m an- 
other year confidence was re-established, commerce revived, 
and public business went forward with renewed activity and 
confidence. 

The numerous failures of banks, threatened the laboring 
classes with ruin, from the derangement of the currency. To 
remedy this alarming state of things, government immediately 
ordered the coinage of sovereigns with all possible despatch. 
These were struck off at the rate of 100,000 a day, and sup- 
plied to the country. Such was the activity of the mint on this 
occasion, that for one week, 150,000 sovereigns per day were 
coined. The bank of England issued temporarily, two pound 
notes. Thus the distress of the country was in a great measure 
relieved. 

In 1826, April 4th, England united with the court of St. Peters, 
burg to compel the Porte to cease hostilities with the Greeks. 
Mr. Canning was appointed prime minister April 12th, 1827, 
and died in the month of August of the same year. His policy 
was crowned by the recognition of the South American states, 
the maintenance of the independence of Portugal, and the treaty 
signed at London, July 6th, for the settlement of the war in 
Greece, which treaty led to the battle of Navarino.* 

Lord Goderich succeeded as first lord of the treasury. He 
retired from office January 8th, when the Duke of Wellington 
was made premier, although the duke had declared in parliament, 
the year before, his entire unfitness for high civil office. In April, 
a Catholic relief bill was passed. 

George IV. King of Great Britain, died June 26th, 1830, and 
was succeeded by his second brother, the Duke of Clarence, 
under the title of William IV^. The administration of the Duke 
of Wellington was overthrown, November 16th, and a few days 
after, a new ministry was formed, with Earl Grey at its head, 
and Brougham lord chancellor. 

The Duke of Wellington's overthrow was ascribed to his 
resistance of retrenchment, and his apprehension of popular 
riots, and opposition to parliamentary reform. The political 
obstinacy of the Duke arose out of his ignorance and contempt 
of the people, and a blind confidence in his own supremacy and 
power, and a thorough Disregard of public opinion, while 

* Mr. Brougham said of Mr. Canning, in the British house of commons, 
fanuary 29th, 1828, " That great man fell a premature sacrifice to his 
struggles for the establishment of a noble system of policy ; and it was 
10 be hoped, that the efforts he made, crowned as they were with success, 
might be followed up." 



ENGLAND. 647 

events at home and abroad perplexed him. The continental 
inonarchs of the Holy Alliance had looked to the tory ministry, 
with Wellington at its head, for security and protection. What 
must have been the sensation in the courts of those countries, 
when intelligence was received of the Duke's overthrow and 
resignation ? 

The whig ministry, with Earl Grey at its head, was pledged 
to support the reform bill.* This ministry took upon them a 
great task — an arduous responsibility. That gross abuses 
abounded in the British government, no one could deny ; and 
reform was demanded by the united voice of the nation. Mr. 
Brougham was pledged to parliamentary reform, the reduction 
of expenses and sinecures, and against negro slavery. 

The ministerial plan of reform, by Earl Grey and his cabuiet, 
was brought forward by Lord John Russell, on the 1st of March ; 
and after a debate of seven days, leave was given to bring in 
three bills for reforming the representation of England, Scotland, 
and Ireland. The bill was carried, after a debate of two days, 
to a second reading, March 22d, by a vote of 302 to 301 ; but 
was lost on the third reading, the vote being 291 for the minis- 
try, 299 against it. 

The King dissolved the parliament in person, on the 22d of 
A.pril. In the speech delivered on that occasion, William said, 
" I have been induced to resort to this measure for the purpose 
of ascertaining the sense of my people," &;c. 

The new parliament, of which a large number was pledged 
to support reform, assembled June 14th, 1831, and was opened 
by the King, who recommended the question of a reform in 
the representation, to their earliest and most attentive considera- 
tion. On the 24th, the reform bill was again brought forward 
by Lord John Russell, in the house of commons, and passed its 
second reading July 6th, by a vote of 367 to 235, and to a third 
reading Sept. 22d, by a vote of 349 to 236. The bill was car- 
ried up to the house of lords, and on October 8th, rejected by a 
vote of 199 to 158. Parliament was prorogued on the 20th of 
the same month. 

The rejection of the reform bill in the house of lords, on the 
8th, led to strong manifestations of popular fury against the 
nobility, especially those who had voted against the bill. At 
Nottingham and Derby, as well as other parts of the kingdom^ 
riots commenced soon as intelligence of the defeat of the bill 

* In 1797, Lord Grey made a motion for reform. Its failure caused that 
great statesman, Fox, to withdraw from parliament, which was by some 
jvidged to be a dereliction of duty. 



648 



CHAPTER XIY. 



was received. On the 29th, 30th, and 31st, dreadful riots took 
place at Bristol — many of the public buildings and an immense 
amount of property were destroyed ; ninety persons were k-lled 
and wounded at that time ; afterwards five were executed, and 
many were sentenced to transportation. The total damage 
done, during this riot at Bristol, was estimated at 300,000 pounds 
sterling. 

Parliament was opened again, December 6th, by the King ; 
and on the 12th, Lord John Russell, (a third time,) introduced 
a new bill for reform, very similar to the former, and declared 
to be "equally efficient." It was read the second time, on the 
18th, by a vote of 324 to 162. On March 23d, it was brought 
up for a third reading, and passed by a vote of 355 to 239. 
The bill passed to a second reading, in the house of lords, April 
13th, by a vote of 184 to 175. An amendment to defeat the 
bill was introduced by Lord Lyndhurst, which passed May 8th, 
by a vote of 151 to 116 ; and on May 12th it was lost by a 
majority of 40. Earl Grey advised the King to create a suffi- 
cient number of new peers to secure the success of the bill, ten- 
dering his resignation as the alternative, which was accepted. 
On the resignation of ministers, great public excitement followed. 
The political unions, organized throughout the country, deter, 
mined to refuse the payment of taxes, and demanded that the 
ministers should be reinstated. Earl Grey had stated, that he 
would stand or fall by this bill ; and that nothing less efficient 
should be supported by him. 

The excitement was so great in Birmingham, that 100,000 
persons assembled suddenly and spontaneously, and forwarded 
an immediate express to London. There was a firm determina- 
tion to have the reform bill carried, or pay no taxes ; and this 
determination was echoed from every part of the kingdom. 
There was no riot ; the people had risen in their collective 
strength, to assert their just rights. Bursts of indignant feel- 
ings were directed against the bishops and nobility. The 
Duke of Wellington failed in his attempts to form a ministry ; 
when Earl Grey and his colleagues were reinstated in office 
May 18th, with the assurance from the King, of having a suffi- 
cient number of peers created, to secure the passing of the bill. 
When the lords were apprized of this fact, they resolved to let 
it pass. 

June 14th, the bill passed a third reading, by a vote of 106 
to 22, and the royal assent was given by commission, on the 17th 
of the same month. It is worthy of remark, that not one of the 
bishops was present on the final passage of the bill. In answer- 
ing the forebodings and objections made to it by the lords, Eai i 



ENGLAND. 649 

Grey said — " That the peace, power, and prosperity of England 
would all be increased by the reform." 

By it, 22 new boroughs, in England, are to send two new 
members each ; 19 new boroughs, one each ; 62 new members 
are added to the English county members ; three to the county 
members, and two to the borough members of Wales ; five to 
the Scotch members ; and five to the Irish members. By this 
reform bill, 56 of the old boroughs, called rotten or decayed 
boroughs, have been wholly disfranchised ; and 30 boroughs, 
that before sent two members each, are to send but one. The 
united borough of Weymouth and Melcombe Regis, which before 
sent four members, is to send but two. 

County members under the reform act. — Formerly, each county 
sent two members, except Yorkshire, which returned four — 
total 82. The counties in Wales, one each — total 12. By the 
reform act, the number of the county members of England is 
raised to 144; those of Wales to 15. And 26 English counties 
are divided, and return four members each ; 7 counties three 
each ; the ridings of Yorkshire, two each ; and the six remain- 
ing counties, two each ; and the Isle of Wight, one. Of the 12 
Welch counties, three send two members each ; the remaining 
nine, one each. 

The reform act also extends to the right of voting, in the elec 
tion of members for cities and boroughs, to every male person 
of full age, not subject to any legal incapacity, who occupies, as 
owner or tenant, any house, warehouse, shop or building, of not 
less than ten pounds yearly value : provided such person pays 
assessed taxes and poor rates. And in the election of county 
members, the elective franchise extends to every male person 
who shall be in actual occupation of a freehold for life, or of 
lands or tenements of copyhold, of the clear yearly value of not 
less than ten pounds. In England, a county member of parlia- 
ment must possess real property to the amount of 600 pounds 
per annum ; and a borough member, 300 pounds. But in Scot- 
land, no such qualification is requisite. 

Lord John Russell, in his speech on introducing the first 
reform bill, (March 1, 1831,) made the following statement 
respecting the number of voters that would be added by that bill : 
number added in towns and boroughs in England already sending 
members, 110,000 ; electors of towns in England sending mem- 
bers for the first time, 50,000 ; electors in London, who will 
obtain the right of voting, 95,000 ; increase of electors in Scot- 
land, 60,000 ; in Ireland, perhaps 40,000 ; increase in the coun- 
ties of England, 100,000. " It is my opinion, therefore," said 
Lord Russell, " that the whole measure will add to the constitu- 



650 CHAPTER XIV. 

ency of the commons house of parHament, about half a million 
of persons, and these all connected with the property of the 
country, having a valuable stake amongst us, and deeply mte- 
rested in our institutions." 

A sufficient number of booths are to be prepared, so that not 
more than 600 electors are to poll at one compartment. The 
polling to continue, if required, for two successive days only ; 
for seven hours on the first day, and for eight hours on the 
second : but the poll is not on any account, to be kept open later 
than 4 o'clock, on the second day. 

July 13. The Scotch reform bill passed to a third reading in 
the English house of lords ; and on the 30th of the same month, 
the Irish reform bill passed in the English house of lords. 
August 13th, the Irish tythe composition bill was read a third 
time and passed, in the English house of lords. On the 16th of 
August, the parliament of England was prorogued to the 16th 
of October. 

The successful issue of a reform in parliament has been 
achieved mainly through the perseverance, wisdom, and stern 
consistency of Henry Brougham, who was, for many years, the 
leader of the opposition in the house of commons, — a firm and 
decided enemy to the measures of the aristocrats and leagued 
despots. 

The passing of the reform bill was followed by a general 
election, which resulted in favor of the ministry. The first ses- 
sion of the new parliament was opened by the king, in person, 
on the 5th of February, 1833. During this session, the charters 
of the Bank of England and Ireland expired. The former was 
renewed, but while the political government of the British terri- 
tories in Hindostan was again vested in the East India Com- 
pany, the trade of India and China was thrown open to British 
enterprise. This session is further rendered memorable by the 
passing of an act for the entire abolition of slavery in the West 
Indies. The sum of jC20,000,000 was granted to the proprie- 
tors by way of compensation, and the slaves were placed in a 
state of apprenticeship, which has since expired and invested 
them with complete liberty. 

The condition of Ireland was brought before parliament, and 
in connection with the Irish coercion bill, a measure investing 
the executive with extraordinary powers for the suppression of 
disturbances, various bills were introduced for the amelioration 
of the grievances of that country. A provision of one of these, 
which had for its object the reform of the Irish Protestant 
Church, involved the appropriation of Irish titles, after due pro- 
vision for the Protestant Clergy, to the general purposes of 



ENGLAND. 



651 



education. In the session of 1834, the Irish coercion bill, 
which was to have expired in August, was renewed, and ren- 
dered more stringent, but before it was passed, the administra- 
tion of Earl Grey was dissolved. Upon the resignation of Mr. 
Littleton, the Irish secretary. Lord Althorp and Earl Grey, Lord 
Melbourne became premier, all the other members of the cabinet 
retaining office. One act was carried by the Melbourne admin- 
istration, which has proved of great importance to all classes. 
This act had for its object the entire re-organization of the poor 
laws. Great difference of opinion exists, regarding its merits, 
but it is clear that it has relieved the owners and occupiers of 
lands from heavy burdens, and raised the moral character of the 
English peasantry. Under the old poor-laws, they unblushingly 
sought the pittance of charity : now they are mainly solicitous 
to subsist by honest industry. 

The rule of the Melbourne administration was brief. Before 
the prorogation of parliament, its weakness had been apparent, 
and its want of intrinsic power had rendered it dependent on 
O'Connell and his party. At the same time, the public press 
denounced its incapacity to carry on government on any iixed 
principles. Certain of its members gave high oflence to the 
king, who availed himself of an opportunity, afforded him by the 
death of Earl Spencer, to dismiss the whole ministry from his 
service. To Sir Robert Peel was committed the task of form- 
ing a new cabinet, which was accomplished towards the close 
of the year. 

This change in the administration was followed, in 1 835, by 
a general election. In England the new government obtained a 
majority in the elections, but in Ireland and Scotland, public 
opinion was decidedly against them. When parliament assem- 
bled, they were left in the minority, in the first subject of debate, 
that of the choice of a speaker. Upon several subsequent divi- 
sions they were equally unsuccessful, and on being defeated in 
a measure, concerning the appropriation of the surplus of the 
revenues of the Irish church. Sir Robert Peel resigned. The 
Melbourne cabinet, with the exception of Lord Brougham, were 
now recalled, and during this session they succeeded in passing 
bills for the reform of the English corporations, and for the 
solemnization of the marriages of dissenters in their own 
chapels. These measures were followed in the session of 
183G, by laws for the better registration of births, marriages 
and deaths ; for the commutation of English tithes, and the 
nearer equalization of episcopal sees. Upon Irish questions, 
the house of lords was still opposed to the views of the cabinet, 
and the majority of the house of commons. The lords refused 



652 CHAPTER XIV. 

to pass an Irish tithe bill with the appropriation clause, and the 
commons rejecting the measure without it, there was once more 
a collision between the two houses. 

At this time, the affairs of the Canadas had forced themselves 
on the attention of the legislature. The house of assembly in 
Lower Canada had recently carried its opposition to the mother 
country, to the extent of refusing the supplies. An attempt at 
reconciliation was made, through the intervention of commis- 
sioners, but this failing, in 1837, the two branches of the British 
legislature agreed to oppose, by force, the refractory spirit dis- 
played by the colonists. Subsequently, Lord Durham was 
appointed lord-high-commissioner of the Canadas, with the most 
comprehensive powers for the suppression of revolt, the amelio- 
ration of grievances, and the re-organization of the institutions of 
that country. 

Since his accession to the throne, the king's health had, in 
general, been good. In the course of the present spring, symp- 
toms of decline manifested themselves, increasing rapidly, until, 
on the 19th of June, his majesty expired without a struggle. 
Few monarchs of England ever possessed the love of their sub- 
jects in a greater degree than William IV. 



Alexandrina Victoria. 

A. D. 1837. Alexandrina Victoria, who now succeeded to 
the British throne, was the daughter of the late duke of Kent. 
Her accession, which took place when she was 18 years of age, 
was hailed with more than ordinary enthusiasm. One effect of 
the descent of the crown to a female, was the separation from 
it of Hanover, after a union of more than a century. The 
queen's uncle, Ernest, became King of Hanover. 

Parliament completed its formal business with all possible 
dispatch, and, at the close of the session, was dissolved. The 
country, at this time, was in a state of perfect tranquillity. 
The popularity of the ministers had been declining, but the 
death of the king promised an increased stability to their power. 
Queen Victoria was believed to have been educated by her 
mother in principles favorable to their rule, and her countenance 
and support were expected to secure the government and make 
it popular. In the new elections, it was proclaimed that she 
espoused their political creed. Ministerial candidates traversed 
the country, inviting electors to exhibit their loyalty to her 



ENGLAND. 653 

majesty by supporting her ministers. This appeal to the people 
failed to accomplish its object, the triumphs of the political 
parties, after a keen trial of their strength, being nearly balanced. 

In the autumn of this year, the corporation of London distin- 
guished itself by a demonstration of its loyalty to the queen, in a 
magnificent entertainment given to her in Guildhall, on the 9th 
of November. The utmost enthusiasm prevailed on this occa- 
sion. The queen opened the new parUament on the 20th of 
November. The motions relative to vote by ballot, and slavery, 
which occupied their attention during this session, were nega- 
tived. A bill which had for its object the education of the 
people, without reference to creed, was brought in by Lord 
Brougham, but the difficulties it encountered were insurmountable. 

A disaffection arose among the working classes in the manu- 
facturing districts, during the autumn of this year, excited by the 
poor laws and the price of provisions, but. by the exertions of 
government, order was restored. 

In the session of 1839, a bill was passed for the regulation of 
municipal corporations in Ireland. At this time disputes existed 
between the British government and the Jamaica legislature, 
arising from an act, which empowered her majesty in council 
to make rules for the government of the West India prisons, to 
appoint inspectors, and to regulate other matters of discipline. 
This was resisted by the Jamaica assembly, as a violation of 
their rights ; resolutions condemnatory of the act were adopted, 
and the members resolved to forego the exercise of their legisla- 
tive functions, until it was repealed. In consequence of this, a 
bill was brought into parliament for the suspension of the exist- 
ing constitution of Jamaica, for five years. Before this the minis- 
try had lost some of their supporters, and others now voting against 
them, the result of the debate brought about their resignation. 
Sir Robert Peel having failed to form a new cabinet, the Mel- 
bourne administration again resumed office, and measures were 
taken by them for the advancement of education, not, however, 
commensurate with the wants of the people. Every section of 
the religious community opposed each other on this question, 
which rendered it difficult for ministers to adopt any enlarged 
or enlightened educational measure. A bill, for the healing of 
the breach between the British parliament and the Jamaica 
assembly, was passed, which had the desired effect. Acts were 
passed for the better ordering of prisons, for the suppression of 
the Portuguese slave trade, and for the disposal of waste lands in 
the colonies ; but this session was particularly signalized by the 
reduction of the rates of postage, a measure, promotive of the 
. interests of trade and commerce, and of individual benefit. 



654 CHAPTER XIV. 

A motion to take into consideration a "National Petition," 
presented to parliament, signed by 1,200,000 of the working 
classes, demanding universal suffrage, vote by ballot, annual 
parliaments and remuneration of members for their attendance 
in ihem, and the abolition of the property qualifications, was 
rejected. Its rejection was cotemporaneous with various riots 
at Birmingham, arising out of the proceedings of the chartists, 
but which were suppressed by the action of parliament. 

An announcement was made, at the opening of the session 
of 1840, that her majesty was about to be married to Albert, 
prince of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. A bill was consequently 
brought in and passed, for the naturalization of his royal high- 
ness ; jGSOjOOO per annum, was also voted him, out of the con- 
solidated fund, to commence on the day of his marriage with 
her majesty, and to continue during life. The marriage took 
place on the lOth of February. 

A bill was this year brought into parliament and passed, for 
the union of the two Canadas. During the last year, a serious 
collision took place between the Chinese authorities, and the 
British subjects at Canton. The Chinese government had pro- 
hibited the introduction of opium into their country, and an 
imperial commissioner demanded that every particle of this 
article, on board the British ships, should be delivered to the 
Chinese authorities, and be destroyed. This was refused, and 
hence arose a series of hostilities, which led the British govern- 
ment to interfere, and to engage in war with the Chinese empire. 
The British captured Chusan, and, for the first time, British 
cannon wrested from the emperor of that vast empire a portion 
of his dominions. The policy of government, with reference to 
the afllairs of China, was made the subject of a series of con- 
demnatory resolutions, and they were only negatived by a small 
majority. 

At this period, Sir Robert Peel moved a resolution, to the 
effect that her majesty's ministers did not possess the confidence 
of the house sufficiently to enable them to carry any measure 
of essential importance to the public welfare, and that their 
continuance in office, under such circumstances, was at variance 
with the spirit of the constitution. This resolution was adopted, 
but, the ministry not resigning, parliament was dissolved, and 
an appeal was made to the country by a general election. 
Great effx)rts were made by both parties on this occasion, but at 
the opening of the new parliament, the results of the elections 
were manifestly unfavorable to the administration. An amend- 
ment to the address from the throne, representing to her majesty 
the necessity that her ministers should enjoy the confidence of 



' ENGLAND. 655 

the country, and that it was not possessed by the present admin- 
istration, was carried against them by a large majority. In 
reply, her majesty stated that she would take measures for the 
formation of a new cabinet, and Sir Robert Peel was charged 
with the task, in executing which, he was successful. The 
principal members of the new administration were the Duke of 
Wellington, the Duke of Buckingham, the Earl of Haddington, 
Sir James Graham, Lords Ellenborough, Stanley, Wharncliffe, 
Lowther, and Lyndhurst ; the Honorable H. Goulburn, Sir E. 
Knatchbull, and Sir H, Hardinge. The only measures of 
importance, brought forward by the new ministry, were bills for 
the better administration of justice in the court of chancery, and 
for the continuance of the new poor law commission. 

This year, the differences which had arisen between the 
courts of Great Britain and the Chinese empire, were, for a 
time, adjusted. After the forts, surrounding Canton, were cap- 
lured, the Chinese emperor purchased peace by indemnification. 
The island and harbor of Hong Kong were ceded to the British 
crown ; an indemnity of 6,000,000 dollars was to be paid to the 
British government, and the trade and commerce between the 
two countries renewed. Further important concessions were 
made by the Chinese empire, and the result of the war was 
highly favorable to Great Britain. It must be mentioned, to the 
honor of the British nation, that great exertions have been 
made, and are still making, for the Christianizing of the Chinese 
people. 

An important treaty was this year signed between France, 
Austria, Prussia, Russia, and Great Britain, whereby the former 
powers agreed to adopt the English laws relative to the slave 
trade. Several important measures were passed by parliament 
in the session of 1842 : one of these was a new corn-law, on 
the principle of a graduated scale, to which great opposition 
was made, but which finally passed, in its original state. The 
next important measure was an income tax bill, by which all 
persons, having an income of more than £^150 per annum, were 
subjected to a tax of seven pence in the pound : personal property 
was also taxed to the same amount. The passing of this measure 
was followed by extensive alterations in the tariff, or customs' 
duties. The duties on numerous articles of trade and commerce 
were either greatly reduced, or wholly repealed by a bill, enti- 
tled the "Customs' Act." The repeal of the corn-laws was 
demanded, but still opposed by government. Another bill was 
passed, by the exertions of Lord Ashley, which had for its 
object the restraining of the employment of children in mines 
and collieries, which had been a cause o( great moral degrada- 



656 CHAPTER XIV. 

tion, and much human suffering. An attempt having been made 
upon the queen's life by an insane person, named Bean, a bill 
for her majesty's protection was passed with perfect unanimity. 
A bill was also passed, renewing the corn-law commission for 
five years, and forming districts for the purposes of education, 
with various minor matters. The proceedings of the session 
were closed by a debate, taking a retrospective view of its opera- 
tions ; a practice which had of late years been adopted by 
both parties, and which gave rise to much strife. 

Plostilities with China had recently been renewed, but in this 
year the war was finally concluded. A treaty was. signed on 
the 26th of August, by which the Chinese now engaged to pay 
21,000,000 dollars, and by which several ports were opened to 
the British merchants. The islands of Chusan and Kolang-soo 
were to be held by the Briti.sh till the money payments were 
made and arrangements for opening the ports completed. 

The British arms were also successful this year, in a war 
with the Affghans, in the East Indies. At the commencement 
of this war, the British arms had sufl'ered several reverses, but 
they were now every where victorious. Several fortresses 
were stormed, and some of them levelled with the dust, while 
thousands of the Affghan troops were slain, and the whole 
country, in the line of march of the British troops, devastated. 
The Affghans had, for several centuries, been adverse to the 
British rule in India ; but when the British troops evacuated 
their country, they left behind them a name which still inspires 
that people with terror. 

At the opening of the year 1843, the aspect of public affairs 
created great disquietude and anxiety. In every branch of trade 
and industry there was great depression. There was a con- 
siderable decrease in the excise, stamps, customs, and taxes. 
To remedy the distress which prevailed, some suggested the 
repeal of the corn-laws, and others pointed to emigration, as the 
only means to relieve the universal pressure. A lengthened 
debate took place on a plan, brought forward by government, to 
promote the education of the poor, but such was the animosity 
displayed against it, that it was abandoned. A bill brought in, 
for the endowment of additional churches and the augmentation 
of small livings, was unanimously passed. The funds for these 
purposes were to be derived, in part, from Queen Anne's bounty 
and in part from the revenues of certain bishoprics, cathedrals, 
and other ecclesiastical establishments. Several reforms in the 
law were made this session ; one of which materially altered 
the registration act, and another made several changes in that 
relating to defamation and libel. 



ENGLAND. 657 

Great commotions took place this year in Ireland. A loud 
cry for the repeal of the union, was heard throughout the coun- 
try. Mr. O'Connell and his coadjutors were arrested on charges 
of conspiracy, sedition, and unlawful assemblage. Their trial 
occurred in 1844, when they were fined and sentenced to be 
imprisoned for twelve months, but parliament soon after reversed 
their sentence, and they were liberated. There was some com- 
motion also, at this time, in South Wales. A war was raised 
against the turnpike system, arising from the vexatious tolls to 
which the peasantry were subjected. The toll-gates were 
every where demolished, and no sooner were they re-erected 
than they were again destroyed. In order to quell these disturb- 
ances, government sent a large body of troops and many of the 
London police, into Wales. In a short time, some of the most 
active in these tumults were captured, and towards the close of 
the year Wales became more quiet. 

This year witnessed another war in the East Indies. It was 
discovered that the ameers of Sinde were preparing to attack 
the British, and Sir Charles Napier was sent against them. A 
great battle was fought at Meeanee, the result of which was 
that the six ameers who governed that country were captured, 
and that the whole of Sinde was annexed to the British domin- 
ions in the East. The Sindian population every where expressed 
their satisfaction at the change of masters. Sir Charles Napier 
was appointed Governor of Sinde, and was empowered to take 
such measures as might appear best calculated to suppress the 
slave trade, which had long existed in that country, and to 
abolish all duties of transit, which had been imposed by the 
ameers. In the course of this year the British troops gained 
two decisive victories over the Mahratta forces. 

In the Autumn, queen Victoria, accompanied by Prince Albert,, 
visited Louis Phillippe, late king of France, in his own domiur- 
ions. This was an interesting event, as it tended to increase- 
the harmony existing between the two countries. After receiv- 
ing a most cordial reception from his majesty, the queen and; 
prince Albert proceeded on their voyage to Ostend. 

In the session of 1844, were passed several important acts ; 
one having for its object the regulation of railways ; another, 
containing salutary provisions for the regulation of joint-stock 
companies, and a third, entirely remodelling the system of turn- 
pike-road management in South Wales. A further alteration 
was made in the Poor Law Amendment Act, having for its 
chief object the preservation of morality among the poor. 
Another act permitted sugar, not being the produce of slave 
labor, to be imported into the country at diminished duties. A 

42 



658 CHAPTER xrv. 

bill was also passed for the abolition of a number of penal acts, 
retained in the Irish statute book, but generally obsolete. The 
important measure of the session was an act for the regulation 
of the Bank of England, and the administration of banking con- 
cerns in general. The great principle of this bill concerned the 
establishment of a gold standard of money ; the makers of prom- 
issory notes were not to issue more than they would be able to 
pay, on demand, to the same amount, in solid gold. 

During this year, Mr. Davis, who had resided many years at 
Macao, as chief-superintendent of the East India Company, was 
appointed governor-general to the recent acquisitions in China. 
Lord Ellenborough was recalled from the government of India, 
and Sir Henry Hardinge was appointed his successor. 

The income tax was to have ceased in 1845, but on the meet- 
ing of parliament, contrary to the wishes and expectations of the 
people, was renewed. A bill was passed, with great opposition, 
for improving and increasing the grant to Maynooth college, for 
the ediication of the Roman Catholic priesthood. Other acts 
relieved the Jews from certain tests, which had previotisly been 
required from them, upon their election to municipal offices ; 
regulated juvenile labor in calico print works ; provided for the 
better care of lunatics ; regulated banking in Scotland and Ire- 
land, on principles similar to those ol' the bank charter of 
England, and facilitated the inclosure of commons in England 
and Wales. 

Towards the close of this year, the British dominions on the 
left bank of the Sutlej, were suddenly invaded by the Sikhs. 
This invasion was considered as a formal declaration of war, 
and a terrible battle was fought at Moodkee, in which the British 
obtained a complete victory. Those of the Sikhs who had 
escaped the slaughter, now recrossed the Sutlej ; and early in 
the year 1846, the victorious British followed them, and pressed 
forward to Lahore. Terms of peace were agreed on, and one 
of the stipulations was the disbandment of the Sikh army. 
Earlier in the year 1845, Sir Charles Napier was employed in 
military operations against the mountain tribes on the right bank 
of the Indus, north of Shikarpoor. In these operations he was 
completely successful ; the power of the robber tribes, which 
had been long a terror to Sinde, was utterly broken. The 
moral effect of this conquest was more important than the phy- 
sical, as it demonstrated to the people of Sinde the power of the 
British to protect them. 

For many years, a repeal of the corn-laws had been demanded, 
and, in order to obtain it, a corn-law league had been set on 
foot, the agents of which had been sent to every part of the 



ENGLAND. 659 

country, to enlighten tlie people on this question. Hitherto, Sir 
Robert Peel had been decidedly opposed to such a repeal, but 
the utter failure of the potato crop, which had created great 
distress throughout the United Kingdom, and rendered some 
measure necessary for its alleviation, induced him to alter his 
opinion. In the session of 1846, a bill was brought in by the 
premier and carried, which made a great and an immediate 
reduction of duties on corn, and provided for its free importation 
at the end oi' three years. Connected with this measure was 
another, by which customs' duties were wholly repealed, or con- 
siderably reduced. These enlightened measures procured the 
downfall of Sir Robert Peel as premier. At the same time 
with these, he brought in a protection life bill for Ireland, and 
the agriculturists, ofl'ended by his free trade movements, united 
with the whigs, who were adverse to coercion, and this bill was 
rejected. Sir Robert Peel now resigned ; and to his cabinet 
succeeded a whig ministry, Lord John Russell being created 
premier. Sir Robert Peel carried to his retirement the sympathy 
and admiration of the people. 

The wisdom of these measures was seen in the autumn, in 
the failure of the potato crop, which had promised to be abundant. 
The visitation was felt by England, Ireland and Scotland. So 
great was the distress, that parliament was convened for the 
purpose of opening the ports for the admission of corn, free of 
duty. By this measure, ships arrived from all parts of the world, 
laden with corn, and the impending famine was averted. Yet 
in Ireland, where, for ages, the people had depended upon the 
potato crop for food, famine and its consequent disease had 
swept away thousands of its inhabitants. The year 1847 was 
marked by great commercial distress in England, and numbers 
hitherto living in affluence, were plunged into poverty. Various 
causes gave rise to this distress^ one of the most prominent 
was the dangerous spirit of speculatiou, which had for some 
time pervaded the whole community. 

The principal measures of public policy which engaged the 
attention of the British parliament, during the session of 1848, 
were the navigation laws and the sugar colonies. A bill for 
rendering Jews eligible to parliament, which was introduced, 
was lost in the House of Lords by a majority of thirty -five. 

The success of the French revolution of February, 1 848, and 
the outburst of popular feeling which ensued in almost every 
part of Europe, gave a new stimulus to the friends of reform in 
Great Britain and Ireland. In England, for about ten years, 
there had existed a political association, denominated Chartists, 
whose object it was to secure universal suffrage ; vote by ballot ; 



660 CHAPTER XIV. 

annual parliaments ; pay to the members, and no property quali- 
fication to eligibility. For the purpose of making a demonstra- 
tion of their strength, and of promoting the objects of their 
association, the chartists proposed a general meeting hi London, 
on the 10th of April. Their number having been much exag- 
gerated, the government fortified the public buildings, enlarged 
the civil force to an unprecedented extent, and took every pre- 
caution against the construction of barricades. 

On the day appointed, about ten thousand assembled in Fitzroy 
Square, marched quietly to Blackfriar's Bridge, which they 
were permitted to cross, and thence to Kensington Common, 
their place of rendezvous for the day. The number of chartists 
and spectators here was not far from fifty thousand. They again 
crossed the Thames, delivered their monster petition to parlia- 
ment, and dispersed. The result of this afl!air afforded to the 
friends of the Constitution and of order an evidence of their own 
strength, and of the weakness of the chartists. 

Of late the chartists have renewed their assemblages with 
increased ardor, but they seem to create no alarm. On the 6th 
of July last, six of their number were convicted of sedition, and 
sentenced to two years imprisonment. 

In Ireland, sympathy with the French in freeing their nation 
from the shackles of monarchy, stimulated the friends of repeal 
to renewed and greatly augmented efl^orts, and inspired in many 
hearts the hope that the day of the desired separation from 
Great Britain was at hand. Clubs were extensively formed, 
and rebellion against the authority of government was openly 
counselled and vindicated by their leaders. 

In May last, John Mitchell, a prominent agitator, and editor 
of the " United Irishman," was arrested and convicted on a 
charge of treason. The types of his paper were seized by the 
government, and Mitchell was sentenced to transportation for 
fourteen years. 

A new journal, entitled the "Irish Felon," was immediately 
issued, the editor of which, Mr. Martin, was arrested on a charge 
of treason, in July, and sent to Newgate. O'Brien, Meagher, 
Dillon and Doherry, engaged most actively in organizing and 
inspiring the clubs, preparing, meanwhile, for an active resistance. 

Fearing that a crisis was at hand, the government adopted the 
most vigorous measures. Viscount Hardinge was sent into 
Ireland to take command of the troops. Every available soldier 
was despatched from England to Ireland, and large rewards 
were offered for the arrest of the leaders of the insurgents. 

On the 25th of July, parliament passed a bill authorizing the 
Lord Lieutenant of Ireland to apprehend and detain until the 



FKANCE. 66 1 

1st of March, 1849, any person suspected of conspiracy against 
her Majesty's government. He accordingly proclaimed the 
cities of Dublin, Cork, Waterford, and the town of Drogheda, to 
be under the act, instructing the police to search for arms, and 
to take into custody all persons found to be in the possession of 
them without a license. 

On the 29th of July, the insurgents came in conflict with the 
police of Ballingarry, in the county of Tipperary. They were 
armed with muskets and pikes, and commanded by Smith 
O'Brien, but were dispersed after a short fight. Seven were 
killed. O'Brien, Meagher, and others, fled from the officers of 
justice, but they, with the principal leaders, were subsequently 
arrested. 

At present, the agitators of Ireland seem to have yielded to 
the formidable preparations and energetic forces of the govern- 
ment, and that unhappy country is, for the time, in a state of 
tranquillity. 

On the 5th of September, the queen prorogued parliament in 
person, by a speech from the throne, recapitulating the most 
important events of the session, and immediately after, took her 
departure for Scotland. 



The French Revolution of February^ 1848. 

The revolution accomplished in Paris, on the 24th of Febru- 
ary, 1848, is without a parallel in history. At once the most 
bloodless and the most complete of modern times, it was the 
spontaneous, unpremeditated act of the unarmed people of Paris. 
No long-matured and widely-ramified conspiracy preceded the 
outbreak, as in 1830. The whole work was accomplished by 
the people in the brief space of three days. 

A general feeling of discontent with the measures and policy 
of the government, suggested the holding of political reform ban- 
quets throughout France. No fewer than sixty-two of these 
were held in different towns, and attended by the leading oppo- 
sitionists. 

The omission of the King's health from the list of toasts, on 
almost all these occasions, was a circumstance that gave pecu- 
liar poignancy to the irritation with which such displays were 
regarded by the government. It having been announced that 
reform banquets were to be held throughout France on the 22d 



662 



CHAPTER XIV. 



of February, the birth-day of Washington, the administration 
determined to put down that which was to take place in Paris. 
Military preparations were made on an extensive scale ; guns 
were mounted on the fortresses around the city ; large stores of 
ammunition were provided, and nothing seemed wanting to enable 
the government to crush any attempt at insurrection. On the 
evening preceding the 22d, proclamations were posted about the 
streets by the police, announcing that no banquet or procession 
would be permitted, and cautioning the public against tumultuous 
assemblages in the streets. 

In the Chamber of Deputies, an intimation to the same effect 
was received during the early part of the sitting, and at once 
put an end to the discussion of all other business. Some differ- 
ence of opinion arose among the members of the banquet com- 
mittee and the deputies of the opposition, whether the procla- 
mation of the government should be obeyed. A minority were 
inclined to form the procession at all hazards ; but it was finally 
agreed that the meeting should be given up ; that the public 
should be urged to maintain a peaceable attitude, and that the 
late discussion of the question in the chambers should be 
renewed in a form that would lead either to a dissolution, and so 
bring it before the electors, or to a change of cabinet. Articles 
of impeachment were therefore to be moved against the ministry 
by Mr. Odillon Barrot. 

In the morning a formal announcement that the banquet was 
deferred appeared in all the opposition papers, and the orders to 
the troops of the line to occupy the ground, and all the avenues 
leading to the place of meeting, were countermanded. Picquets 
only were stationed in places where crowds might be expected 
to assemble, sufficient, it was presumed, to disperse the mob ; 
but no serious disturbance was anticipated, either by the minis- 
try or its opponents. 

The proclamations, however, of the prefect of the police, and 
the announcement of the opposition journals, came too late. At 
an early hour, the Place de la Madeline, the Place de la Con- 
corde, and the Champ Elysees, were thronged by the working 
classes. At noon, the multitude around the Church of the Made- 
line, whence the banquet procession was to have set out, became 
formidable in numbers, though manifesting no symptoms of dis- 
order, and at one time could not have numbered less than thirty 
thousand persons. The regiment, which had arrived, was 
drawn up in line along the railing of the church. Soon after, 
several squadrons of the municipal cavalry arrived, and the popu- 
lace were desired to disperse. This order being disregarded, 
the charge was sounded, and the dragoons rushed on the people. 



FRANCE. 663 

At first an effort was made to disperse the crowd by the mere 
force of the horses, without the use of arms, and the dragoons 
did not draw. This, however, proving ineffectual, several 
charges with drawn swords were made, the flat of the sword 
only being used. By these means, the multitude was at length 
dispersed without any loss of life, or other serious casualties. 
At one o'clock the main thoroughfares were clear. During the 
remainder of the day, the principal streets were patrolled by 
cavalry of the municipal guard, the infantry of the line keeping 
clear the footways. 

At the Chamber of Deputies, three impeachments against the 
cabinet were handed to the president, who, without reading 
them, ordered that they should be taken into consideration on 
Thursday. One of the impeachments was presented on the 
part of M. Odillon Barrot, and signed by fifty-three deputies; 
another on the part of M. Duvergier d' Hauranne ; the third on 
the part of M. de Genoude, deputy for Toulouse. 

In the evening, the disturbances were renewed, and now 
began to wear a threatening aspect. Gunsmiths' shops were 
broken open ; barricades were formed in the neighborhood of 
the principal markets ; lamps were extinguished ; posts of the 
municipal guards were attacked ; the streets were filled with 
troops ; and at night, anxiety for the result of the sanguinary 
contest on the morrow, which had become inevitable, spread 
throughout Paris. 

At an early hour on Wednesday, February 23d, crowds began 
to. assemble and to busy themselves in the formation of new bar- 
ricades. These were attacked and partially destroyed as fast 
as formed, by the municipal guard, or the troops. The morning 
passed in skirmishes, in which some were killed, and success 
was generally on the side of the authorities ; the people, how- 
ever, when dispersed in one place, assembled instantly in 
another, and rapidly increased in numbers. Considerable bodies 
of the National Guards appeared in the streets, but although at 
first wavering as to the course they would follow, it soon became 
evident that they would yield to the contagion of popular enthu- 
siasm, and act with, rather than against, the movement. 

About one o'clock, a portion of the National Guards having 
declared for reform, their ofl^cers held a council, and agreed to 
depute their Colonel to the King, to acquaint his Majesty with 
their wishes. Their requests being signified to Louis Phillippe 
at the Tuileries, through General Jacqueminot, they were at 
once acceded to. Reform and the dismissal of the Guizot 
cabinet were promised, and Count Mole was entrusted with the 
charge of forming a new ministry. The news of this change 



664 CHAPTER XIV. 

was immediately carried to the Chamber of Deputies by M. 
Guizot himself, which soon after rose in great agitation. 

The dismissal of the ministry produced a momentary calm. 
But the streets continued to be crowded with rioters, who, as even- 
ing drew on, compelled the inhabitants to illuminate, and when- 
ever they found themselves in sufficient force, attacked the piquets 
of the municipal guard, and often succeeded in disarming them. 

Between ten and eleven, the somewhat subdued excitement 
of the populace was changed into rage. A crowd passing the 
Hotel of Foreign Affairs, which, as the residence of M. Guizot, 
had been repeatedly threatened, and was now occupied by the 
14th regiment of the line, was suddenly fired upon by the troops 
with fatal effect. Many fell, some dead, others desperately 
wounded. The people fled in consternation, but fear soon gave 
way to indignation, and thirst for vengeance. The cry then 
burst forth from every lip — " To arms ! Down with the assas- 
sins ! Down with Louis Phillippe ! Down with all his race ! 
Barricades, barricades !" and these cries were speedily re-echoed 
through all the streets of Paris. 

The attempt to establish a Mole administration having failed, 
the King sent, late at night, for M. Thiers to the Palace of the 
Tuileries, and asked him to form a ministry. M. Thiers under- 
took to do so, provided he might be permitted to join with him, 
as one of his colleagues, M. Odillon Barrot. To this the King 
acceded. Marshal Bugaud was, during the night, appointed 
Commander-in-Chief of the National Guard, but finding he was 
not to have a carte blanche, he resigned almost as soon as ap- 
pointed, and the appointment was given to General Lamoriciere. 
During the night the egress of the mails had been stopped, and 
the railways around Paris had been damaged or destroyed at 
every point at which troops were expected to arrive. 

Early in the morning of Thursday, Feb. 24th, a placard was 
posted about the streets to the effect that, at 3 o'clock, A. M., M. 
Thiers and Odillon Barrot had been appointed ministers. Subse- 
quently, the following proclamation was posted at the Bourse : 

" Orders have been given to cease firing every where. 

" We have just been charged by the King to form a new 
ministry. 

" The Chamber will be dissolved, and an appeal made to the 
country. 

" General Lamoriciere has been appointed commandant of 
the National Guards. " Thiers, 

^ " Odillon Barrot, 

" DUVERGIER De HaURANNE, 

" Lamoriciere." 



FRANCE. 665 

The orders issued to the troops were, it appears, not only to 
cease firing, but to retire to their quarters. Accordingly, about 
11 o'clock, the trumpets sounded a retreat, and most of the 
important positions which, up to that hour, had been occupied 
by the infantrj^ cavalry, and artilleiy, were abandoned to the 
people and the National Guard. 

Marshal Bugeaud protested against the orders given, and 
resigned. Whole regiments marched to their barracks, and 
allowed themselves to be quietly disarmed by the mob. There 
was now no want of arms among the insurgents, and the number 
of working men and others engaged in eflbrts to expel the royal 
family, exclusive of the National Guards, was swelled to an 
estimated force of twenty thousand men. 

Between eleven and twelve o'clock, this army directed its 
course to the Palais Royal and the Tuileries. At the Palais 
Royal, some severe fighting took place between the people and 
a company of the 14th regiment of the line in charge of the 
state apartments, who refused to surrender their arms, and main- 
tained a contest of nearly two hours before they were finally 
overcome. The noise of the firing was heard in the Tuileries, 
and combined with the unfavorable reports reaching the court 
from every part of the city, produced a panic among the inmates 
of the chateau, and all there assembled. In the court yard of 
the Tuileries were 3,000 infantry with six pieces of cannon 
and two squadrons of dragoons. These might have swept the 
space before them (the Place du Carrousel,) clear of combatants, 
but it would have been of little avail, for they were surrounded 
by an armed populace and six legions of the National Guard, 
demanding the abdication of the king, and ready to close in 
upon them, if rendered desperate by their position. It was 
represented to Louis Phillippe, that abdication would alone 
secure the interests of his family, and that his disposal of the 
crown in favor of his grandson, the young Comte de Paris, with 
the appointment of his mother, the Duchess of Orleans, as 
Regent, would satisfy all parties — few voices having, as yet, 
been openly raised for a republic. In the course of this day, 
the king signed an act of abdication, presented to him by Emile 
de Girardin, but before this fact could be known in Paris, the 
troops of the line were summoned to quit the court-yard of the 
Tuileries. Not knowing whom to obey, the commander-in- 
chief having resigned, and the goA'ernment having been dissolved, 
they agreed to yield their post. The Chateau was to be pro- 
tected by the National Guards, but the armed populace rushed 
by them and entered in triumph. Bonfires were made of the 
royal carriages and furniture, at the Palais Royal and Tuileries. 



666 



CHAPTER XIV. 



The throne of the state reception room was carried in triumph 
through the streets, and finally burned in the Place de la Bas- 
tille. The plunder and destruction of property was chiefly con- 
fined to the insignia of royalty, and speedily checked. Sentinels 
were placed at the entrance of the Tuileries by the leaders of 
the people, and no person allowed to leave the Chateau, with- 
out a vigorous search. 

Meanwhile, the ex-King and Queen had passed out at a 
private door into the gardens, and demanded an escort of the 
National Guards through the crowd beyond. A troop of 
National Guards on horseback, and about thirty persons in 
different uniforms attended them, to ensure their safety. The 
Queen walked with a firm step, casting around looks of mingled 
assurance and anger. She was dressed in full mourning : the 
King wore a black coat, with a common round hat. Arriving 
at the Place de la Concorde, they drove off to St. Cloud with so 
much rapidity that the coach appeared carried rather than 
driven away. They pursued their way to Versailles, and 
thence to Dreux, where they passed the night with a friend, who 
procured disguises for the royal fugitives. That of the king 
was a green blouse, with a sailor's frock coat over it, a red and 
white comforter and a casquette, or peasant's cap. The queen 
concealed her former dress by a woollen cloak of black and 
white plaid. From Dreux they proceeded to Honfleur, where 
they remained concealed for some days, the boisterous weather 
not allowing their embarkation until Thursday of the next week, 
when they were conveyed in a French fishing boat to Havre, 
thence sailing for England, and arriving at New Haven that 
evening. 

About half past one of the day on which the Royal pair left 
Paris, it was rumored in the Chamber of Deputies that the 
Duchess of Orleans, and the two young princes, her sons, were 
about to arrive. Shortly after, the Duchess and her sons entered, 
followed by the Due de Nemours and the Due de Montpensier. 
The Comte de Paris, led by one of the Deputies, entered first, 
his way being made with difficulty through the crowd of officers 
and soldiers of the National Guard. His presence and that of 
the rest of the royal party, created a great sensation. A moment 
afterwards, the Duchess of Orleans seated herself in an arm- 
chair, with her sons on either side of her. Immediately every 
vacant place was filled with such of the populace as had suc- 
ceeded in crowding themselves in with the National Guard, a 
number of men forcing their way under the tribune. The 
Duchess then arose and retired with the young princes, to one 
of the upper benches of the Centre, and opposite to the Presi- 



FRANCE. 667 

dent's bureau. The Due de Nemours and the Due de Mont- 
pensier placed themselves in the last line of seats, directly 
behind the princess and her sons. The greatest agitation 
prevailed. 

M. Dupin then ascended the tribune, and, amid deep silence, 
said, that in the present situation of the capitol, it had been 
found necessary to re-assemble the Chamber without loss of 
time. The King had abdicated the crown in favor of his grand- 
son, and devolved the regency on the Duchess of Orleans. 
This announcement was greeted with applause from all the 
benches of the centre, and from some of the public tribunes. 
Disapprobation was expressed on the benches of the left, and 
one voice was heard, exclaiming, " It is too late." The scene 
of confusion that ensued, it is impossible to describe. A num- 
ber of deputies and the National Guards hastened to surround 
the royal family. 

M. Marie then ascended the tribune, and after silence was 
restored, reminding the Chambers that a law existed giving the 
regency to the Due de Nemours, and which could not be abro- 
gated by an act of the King in favor of another, demanded the 
nomination of a provisional government. M. Cremieux and the 
Abbe de Genoude, supported the proposition. Odillon Barrot 
then declared himself in favor of the regency of the Duchess of 
Orleans, a ministry of tried liberal opinions, and an appeal to 
the country. The Duchess then arose and addressed some 
words to the Chamber, but was advised by those about her to be 
seated. Odillon Barrot resumed his discourse, appealing to all 
parties to defend the crown of July, now committed to the 
custody of a child and a woman, as the only means of averting 
a civil war. A majority of the deputies signified their assent, 
but their tokens of approbation were drowned in murmurs from 
the galleries, and cries of " Vive la Republique." M. Cheval- 
lier, editor of the " Bibliotheque Historie," ascended the tribune, 
amidst cries of " you are not a deputy," " you have no right to 
be there." He cautioned the Chamber against proclaiming the 
Comte de Paris, without the consent of the people, into whose 
hands the real sovereignty had again fallen. The Marquis de 
Larochejaquelin rose to speak, but had only uttered a few words 
when a crowd rushed into the Chamber, some armed with 
swords, lances, muskets, spears, and tri-colored flags ; others 
unarmed, in blouses, with dragoons' helmets on their heads, or 
with cross belts and infantry caps. These persons at once 
seized on such deputies' seats as were unoccupied, several 
ascending the tribune and stationing themselves there. 

A number of the deputies, appearing to consider their position 



668 



CHAPTER XIV. 



perilous, began to withdraw, and as they abandoned their 
places, the crowd took them. The tumult was tremendous, and 
many deputies looked with anxiety towards the Duchess of 
Orleans and her children, but she sat calm amidst the uproar. 
After M. Ledru Rollin and M. Lamartine had succeeded in 
making themselves heard for a few moments, a violent and 
imperative knocking arose at the door of one of the tribunes. It 
being opened, a crowd of armed men rushed in. Several of 
them forced their way to the front seats, and pointed their 
muskets at the deputies below. Some of these weapons were 
turned in the direction of the royal party. 

Immediately the persons near the Duchess of Orleans seemed 
to address her energetically, and at once, with her sons and the 
two princes, she quitted the Chamber by a door on the extreme 
left. M. Sauzet left the chair, and a great number of deputies>^ 
rose from their places. The greatest disorder was visible. 
Shortly after, silence being somewhat restored, M. Ledru Rollin 
said, "According as I read out the names, you will say ' Yes,' 
or 'No,' just as they please you ; and in order to act officially, 
I call on the reporters of the public press to take down the 
names and the manner in which they are received, that France 
may know what has been done here." The honorable deputy 
then read the names of M. M. Dupont (de 1' Eure) Arago, De 
Lamartine, Ledru Rollin, Gamier Pages, Marie and Cremieux, 
all of which were received with acclamations. 

Cries of "To the Hotel de Ville," here arose, followed by a 
cry of " No civil list," and another of " No King !" Some one 
having directed the attention of the crowd to the picture of Louis 
Phillippe swearing obedience to the charter, cries of " Tear it 
down !" arose. A workman, with a double-barrelled fowling 
piece, who was standing in the same circle, cried out, " Just 
wait until I have a shot at Louis Phillippe!" and at the same 
moment both barrels were discharged. Great confusion ensued, 
amidst which, two men jumped on the chairs behind the Presi- 
dent's seat, and prepared to cut the picture to pieces with their 
sabres. Another workman ran up the steps of the tribune and 
exclaimed, " Respect public monuments ! respect property ! why 
destroy the pictures with balls ? We have shown that the peo- 
ple will not allow itself to be ill-governed : let us now show 
that it knows how to conduct itself after victory." (Great 
applause.) 

The next instant, M. Dupont (de 1' Eure) was placed in the 
chair. M. de Lamartine and Ledru Rollin attempted to obtain 
a hearing, but were unsuccessful. Several of the guards and 
some of the people made a similar vain effort. A cry then 



FRANCE. 669 

arose in one of the tribunes, " Let Lamartine speak ;" and 
" Lamartine" resounded from all quarters. 

M. de Lamartine. " A provisional government is about to be 
proclaimed." (Cries of Vive Lamartine ! " Names, names !") 

The noise not ceasing, the names were written on a slip of 
paper, and carried round the chamber on the top of a musket. 
In the midst of shouts Ledru Rollin read the names. Nearly all 
the deputies had, by this time, departed, and the National Guards 
and the people had the chamber to themselves. :\L Rollin 
continued, " We are obliged to close the sitting in order to pro- 
ceed to the seat of government." 

(From all sides shouts, " To the Hotel de Ville !" '* Vive la 
Republique !") The crowd then dispersed at four o'clock. 

Another terrible scene now took place at the Hotel de Ville, 
where, on adjourning from the chamber, the members of the 
provisional government sat to decide upon the course to be 
adopted. Suddenly the doors of the Salle de Conseil were 
violently shaken, and the people loudly demanded the commu- 
nication of the first act of the government. The great majority 
of the members were opposed to the establishment of an unmiti- 
gated democracy, but the populace were resolved that a purely 
democratic Republic should be formed, and that every male 
above a certain age should be eligible to the National Guard, 
and empowered to carry arms. Every attempt to oppose this 
was the signal of renewed shouts. In vain it was attempted to 
adjourn the question till minds should become calm. The popu- 
lar will prevailed, and resolutions -were passed in accordance 
with it. 

The provisional government at once issued the following 
proclamation : 

" TO THE FRENCH PEOPLE, 

" A retrograde and oligarchic government has been overturned 
by the heroism of the people of Paris. This government has 
fled, leaving behind it traces of blood which will forever forbid 
its return. The blood of the people has flowed as in July, but 
happily, it will not have been in vain. It has secured a national 
and popular government, in accordance with the rights, the pro- 
gress, and the will of this great and generous people. A Provi- 
sional Government, chosen by the acclamation and at the call 
of the people, and some of the Deputies of the departments in 
the sitting of the 24th of February, is for the moment invested 
with the care of organizing and securing the national victory. It 
is composed of MM. Dupont (de I'Eure,) Lamartine, Cremieux, 
Arago (de ITnstitut,) Ledru Rollin, and Gamier Pages. The 



670 CHAPTER XIV. 

secretaries to this government are MM. Armand Marrast, editor 
of the ' National ;' Louis Blanc, Ferdinand Flocon, editor of the 
' lleforme,' and Alhert. These citizens have not hesitated for an 
instant to accept the patriotic mission which has been imposed 
on them by the urgency of the occasion. When the capital of 
France is under fire, the mission of the Provisional Government is 
that of public safety. All France will understand this, and will 
give the assistance of its patriotism. Under the popular govern- 
ment now proclaimed by the Provisional Government, every 
citizen is a magistrate. Frenchmen, give to the world the 
example which Paris has given to France. Prepare yourselves, 
by order and confidence in yourselves, for those strong institu- 
tions which you are about to be called upon to give yourselves. 
The Provisional Government desires a Republic, subject to the 
ratification of the French people, who are to be immediately 
consulted. Neither the people of Paris nor the Provisional 
Government desire to substitute their opinion for the opinions 
of the citizens at large, upon the definite form of government 
which the national sovereignty shall -proclaim. The unity of 
the nation, formed henceforth of all classes of the people which 
compose it; the government of the nation by itself; liberty, 
equality, and fraternity for its principles ; the national device 
and pass-word to be ' The People ;' — Such is the democratic 
government which France owes to herself, and which our 
efforts will assure to her. Such are the first acts of the Pro- 
visional Government. 

(Signed,) " Dupont (de I'Eure,) Lamartine, Ledru RoUin, 
Bedeau, Michel Goudechaux, Arago, Belhmont, Marie, Carnot, 
Cavaignac, Garnier Pages. 

" The Municipal Guard is disbanded. The protection of the 
city of Paris is confided to the National Guard, under the orders 
of M. Courtais." 

This proclamation was followed by another, appointing a Pro- 
visional Ministry, as follows : — M. Dupont (de I'Eure,) Presi- 
dent of the Council, without portfolio ; M. de Lamartine, Minister 
of Foreign Affairs ; M. Cremieux. Minister of Justice ; M. Ledru 
RoUin, Minister of^ the Interior ; M. Michel Goudechaux, Min- 
ister of Finance; M. Francois Arago, Minister of Marine; 
General Bedeau, Minister of War ; M. Carnot, Minister of Public 
Instruction and Worship; M. Bethmont, Minister of Commerce ; 
M. Marie, Minister of Public Works ; General Cavaignac, Gov- 
ernor of Algeria. To these decrees succeeded : 



*& 



"The Municipal Guard is dissolved. M. Garnier Pages is 



FRANCE. 671 

named Mayor of Paris, and to him are given as adjoints. MM. 
Guinard and Recurt. M. Flotard is named Secrelary-general. 
All the other Mayors of Paris are provisionally maintained. 
The Prefecture of Police is under the dependence of the Mayor 
of Paris. In the name of France, the Provisional Government 
decides that the Chamber of Deputies is dissolved. The 
ex-Chamber of Peers is forbidden to meet. A National Assem- 
bly will be convoked as soon as the Provisional Government 
shall have regulated the necessary measures of order and 
police." 

Further appointments followed in rapid succession. General 
Subervie was substituted for General Bedeau, as Minister of 
War ; General Bedeau taking command of the first military 
division ; Admiral Baudin was appointed Commander of the 
Fleet; the Police department was entrusted to the citizens 
Caussidiere and Sobrier ; and M. Arago was appointed to the 
Direction-General of the Post-ofHce. A notice also advised the 
bakers, or furnishers of provisions of Paris, to keep their shops 
open to all those who might have occasion for them. The 
people were expressly recommended not to quit their arms, 
their positions, or their revolutionary attitude. It was further 
announced that the liberation of all who had been imprisoned 
on political grounds had been effected ; but, at the same time, 
all who had been convicted of crimes against persons and prop- 
erty were detained. 

The revolution was now consummated ; royalty had vanished 
like a dissolving view, and its place was already filled by a new 
and totally different spectacle. 

The day after the battle was one of strange, tumultuous ex- 
citement, but passed without any infraction of the peace. The 
streets were crowded, during the whole of Friday, with men 
and women, and wore the appearance of a festival. 

The people had not dismissed from their minds all apprehen- 
sion of an attempt to rally on the part of those favoring the claims 
of the Duchess of Orleans and her son, and maintained a jeal- 
ous attitude towards the soldiers of the line, who were still in 
arms. Yet they displayed the most frank and generous forgive- 
ness towards their vanquished foes. Disarmed Municipal Guards 
and soldiers of the regiment, who had fired on the people, were 
seen walking about the streets, and no one insulted or molested 
them. 

Among the scenes of the late conflict, none attracted more 
painful curiosity than the space before the Hotel of the Minister 
of Foreign Affairs, where the fatal volley had been fired on the 



672 



CHAPTER XIV. 



night of the 23d. Pools of blood, fifty paces long, stagnated 
horriblv on the asphalte pavement. 

The Boulevards presented a terrible proof of that reckless- 
ness of destruction common to all kinds of battle. The trees, 
which were the ornament of the splendid streets, were all cut 
down. They were severed about three feet from the ground, and 
ibrmed a line of posts, neither useful nor ornamental. The mu- 
tilated stumps remained standing for some days, when they were 
removed by a large body of laborers. 

All the detached posts around Paris surrendered this day with- 
out resistance. A large body of the National Guards and of 
the crowd, had marched against the fort of Vincennes, but their 
presence proved unnecessary, for the soldiers of the line had 
tacitly joined the revolt. 

By Friday evening, order was to a great extent restored ; one 
proof was the re-opening of the Bank of France, which was 
chiefly due to the admirable conduct of the National Guard, and 
the intrepidity, energy and good sense of the Provisional Gov- 
ernment. 'I'o M. Lamartine especially belongs the renown of 
having, that day, saved his country from the most bloody an- 
archy. 

Among the earliest resolutions adopted by the Provisional 
Government, were the abolition of capital punishment for politi- 
cal olfences, and the re-adoption of the tri-colored flag. Both 
these measures were proposed by M. Lamartine, and owed their 
success to his extraordinary eloquence and courage. Five 
times on Friday, he addressed the people, still tierce with ex- 
citement, assembled under the windows of the Hotel de Ville. 

On Saturday, the restoration of order was complete. The 
public departments resumed their duties, and among them the 
department of Finance. It was only on the previous Monday 
that the notice to pay the city taxes had been issued. The 
whole of the coming year's taxes, derived from per-centage on 
rents of the apartments and shop keepers' licences, would thus 
fall into the hands of the new Government— an enormous fund 
with which to begin. The million a month had already been 
confiscated, or, as the ordonnance has it, "restored to the people," 
a handsome addition to the fund applicable to the relief of dis- 
tress. 

The streets being partially cleared of the barricades, under 
the scientific direction of the students of the "Ecole Polytech- 
nique," in such a way as not to compromise the security against 
a surprise afforded by these popular fortifications, the country 
people were enabled to bring in their provisions, of which there 
was an abundant supply. The vast number of cabmen and 



FRANCE. 673 

coachmen were thus allowed to resume their occupation. The 
law-courts again commenced their sittings ; the shops were 
opened, and every thing was done to calm apprehension. 

On this day, Lamartine declared the Republic. He presented 
himself, with the other members of the Government, on the 
steps of the Hotel de Ville, and thus addressed the multitude : 

" Citizens ! The Provisional Government of the Republic 
has called upon the people to witness its gratitude for the mag- 
nificent national co-operation, which has just accepted these 
new institutions. ^ 

" The Provisional Government of the Republic has only joy- 
ful intelligence to announce to the people here assembled. 
Royalty is abolished. The Republic is proclaimed. The peo- 
ple will exercise their political rights. National workshops 
are open for those who are without work. 

" The army is being re-organized. The National Guard in- 
dissolubly unites itself with the people, so as to promptly re- 
store order with the same hand that had only the preceding mo- 
ment conquered our liberty. 

" Finally, gentlemen, the Provisional Government is anxious 
to be itself the bearer to you of the last decree it has resolved on 
and signed in this memorable sitting ; that is, the abolition of the 
penalty of death for political matters. This is the noblest decree, 
gentlemen, that has ever issued from the mouths of a people, 
the day after their victory. It is the character of the French 
nation, which escapes in one spontaneous cry from the soul of 
Government. We have brought it with us, and I will now read 
it to you. There is not a more becoming homage to a people, 
than the spectacle of its own magnanimity." 

He then read the following noble proclamation : 

"The Provisional Government, convinced that greatness of 
soul is the highest degree of policy, and that each resolution, 
effected by the French people, owes to the world the consecra- 
tion of an additional philosophical truth ; considering that there 
is no more sublime principle than the inviolability of human life ; 
considering that in the memorable days in which we live,, the 
Provisional Government has remarked, with pride, that not a 
single cry for vengeance or for death has dropped from the 
mouths of the people, declares — That, in its opinion, the pun- 
ishment of death for political offences is abolished, and that it 
will present that wish to the definitive ratification of the National 
Assembly. The Provisional Government has so firm a con- 
viction of the truth, that it proclaims, in the name of the French 
people, that, if the guilty men who have just caused the blood 
of France to be spilt, were in the hands of the people, it would^ 

4^ 



674 CHAPTER XIV. 

in their opinion, be a more exemplary chastisement to degrade 
them, than to put them to death." 

Probably, the abolition of the punishment of death for politi- 
cal offences tended, more than any other act of the Government, 
to produce the unparalleled unanimity of the entire nation, in 
accepting the new men, as the necessity of the time. The mid- 
dle classes in Paris and in the provinces, as well as all the 
press, yielded without a moment's hesitation, to the Government. 
Marshal Bugeaud, on the part of the army, and the Archbishop 
of Paris, on the part of the clergy, gave in their adhesion to the 
new Republic. 

Sunday was a high festival. The barricades had all been 
removed, and the streets were thronged. At two o'clock, the 
Provisional Government reviewed the vast body of National 
Guards, before the Column of July, on the steps of which, 
the celebrated astronomer, Arago, proclaimed the Republic, 
amidst the wildest enthusiasm. General Comtais, with his 
white head uncovered, harangued every group he met, along the 
Boulevards to the Foreign Office, recommending order and tran- 
quillity. In the evening, the capital was brilliantly illuminated. 
Venetian lamps, so disposed as to render the tri-color transpa- 
rent, were abundantly used, and the Boulevards were exceed- 
ingly gay. People at all the windows, and under the lamps, were 
devouring the journals. Hawkers were calling on every body to 
purchase little tri-colored cockades, the national color, to distin- 
guish it from the red, which the Communists had adopted. Never 
was the capital freer from outrages against private persons and 
property, than during the wild turmoil of the Revolution, but it 
must not be supposed that no crimes were committed. There 
were desperate malefactors in Paris, who thought they saw in 
the confusion of that period, safe opportunities for rapine, but 
their misdeeds were terribly suppressed and punished by the 
most summary executions. 

Beyond the walls of the capital, there was much wanton de- 
struction of property. The ex-King's beautiful chateau at Neuilly 
was burned on Saturday ; but most of its valuable contents were 
carefully removed, and sent to the public treasury, before the work 
of conflagration began. Among the most interesting items saved, 
were two volumes of the manuscript memoirs of Louis Phillippe, 
terminating at the period when the Commissioners of the Con- 
sulate proclaimed the Republic in presence of the armies of the 
enemy. There also passed into the hands of the new Govern- 
ment, various private papers of the ex-King, among which was 
an autograph list, headed, Hommes a moi — "Men 1 am sure of" 
Jfhe splendid mansion of Baron Rothschild was burned on 



ruANCE. 675 

Sunday, under the impression that it belonged to the King. 
The greatest destruction was that committed on the Northern 
Railway, the damage done to which amounted to no less than ^ 
-£400,000. Repairs were quickly made, sufficient to render the 
line practicable to a certain extent ; but the effect of the mis- 
chief was not confined to the heavy loss of capital ; three fourths 
of the traffic of the line were annihilated. .v^ 

^ The Revolution of February, 1848, in Paris, is, in some 
respects, a continuation of the Revolution of July, 1830, while 
in other points, it is entirely new. The old principle combined 
with the new to overturn the throne of Louis Phillippe, and to 
proclaim the republic, but as soon as the monarchy was abolished, 
the old and new principle.s commenced a war against each 
other. The old principle included the right of self-government, 
and civil and religious liberty, and merely attempted what the 
American people have realized under a republic. Louis Phil- 
lippe invaded this principle, and fell. The new principle, which 
aided in his overthrow, went much further, insisting not merely 
upon civil and religious liberty, and upon a share in government, 
through the suffrage, for the adult male population, but upon the 
establishment of new social relations between wealth and labor. 
It was in fact Socialism, or Communism ; ^ and affirmed that the 
State collectively can and must supply food and labor for the 
whole population. The one principle was purely political and 
philosophical ; the other was social and unphilosophical. Both 
were active in France during the reign of Louis Phillippe ; both 
desired a change ; the one, that France might become a great 
republic like the United States — the other, that France might 
work the mighty problem of Communism, and show to the world, 
by a new distribution of wealth, and by the destruction of 
individualism, that every man might have more than enough for his 
wants, and poverty and crime be altogether banished from society. 
The first acts and proclamations of the Provisional Govern- 
ment were looked to with great interest throughout Europe. It 
was announced that tVie constituent National Assembly was con- 
voked for the 20th of April, a date afterwards postponed to the 
4th of May. It was decreed that the electoral colleges should 
meet on the 9th of April, and that every Frenchman, without 
respect to property, being of the age of twenty-one years, should 
have a vole, under the protection of the ballot — the Assembly, 
so elected, to consist of 900 members, or one member to every 
40,000 of population, each member to be twenty-five years of 
age, or upwards. The principle of the payment of members 
was affirmed, and the indemnity for each was fixed at 25 francs 
a day during the session. 



676 CHAPTER XIV. 

The interment of the victims of the revolution was the first 
great ceremony of the republic : though somewhat theatrical in 
its general aspect, as suited the character of the people, it was 
nevertheless grand and imposing. The official returns gave 
150 killed, and 500 wounded in the fighting, but it was believed 
that the number was really much larger. All the members of 
the ministry were present at the ceremony of interment, except 
M. Lamartine, whose absence was accounted for on the ground 
of excessive fatigue. 

For the first few weeks after the revolution, the people were 
kept in good humor. They planted trees of liberty to amuse 
themselves, and marched from street to street with uprooted 
poplars, seeking vacant plots of ground in which to plant them. 
They marched in procession, with banners flying, and with a 
priest at their head, to bless the trees in the name of God, and 
in the cause of liberty. Occupied with their amusement, and 
favored with gratuitous admission to the theatres, the people did 
not think of mischief. The government, taking a lesson from 
the history of the first revolution, imitated its gorgeous fete, and 
brought large assemblages of the people together to inaugurate 
the republic with spears, swords, and banners, the firing of artil- 
lery, and the shouting of enthusiastic multitudes. 

The " People," however, were jealous at times. The first 
occasion upon which they thought it expedient and necessary to 
show their power, was upon a matter of uniform among the 
National Guards. The officers of one favorite division insisted 
upon a distinction of habiliment, which the working classes 
looked upon as an infringement of the principle of " equality." 

Early on Friday morning (17th of March,) the emissaries of 
the clubs proceeded to all the suburbs, to invite the laborers to 
rendezvous on different points, and to proceed from thence in 
bodies to the Hotel de Ville. About eleven o'clock the laborers 
poured down in masses into the city, forcing all their comrades 
who were working, to join them. Those who assembled in the 
Champs Elysees exceeded 30,000. The Pont d'Arcole was 
covered. 

From twelve o'clock till two, the crowd remained on the 
Place, cheering and shouting, at intervals raising the chorus of 
the " Marseillaise," or beating the rappel on their drums. There 
was no sign of opposition to this manifestation of feeling ; the 
guard on duty was even less numerous than usual. Towards 
two o'clock, the crowd began to disperse, though very slowly. 

The demonstration was considered a triumph over an attempted 
re-action, a success gained by the mass over those who, it is 
said, wished to impede the progress of the republic. 



J 



FRANCE. 677 

The succeeding night passed in perfect tranquillity, though 
the demonstration continued to a late hour. Bodies of men, 
marc'hing nine and ten abreast, continued to defile along the 
Boulevards from four till seven o'clock. As night fell, crowds 
collected in different spots, but principally about the Porte St. 
Denis and Porte St. Martin. The inhabitants in this quarter 
illuminated their houses, and about eight o'clock an immense 
body of the people began to move slowly along the Boulevards 
in the direction of the Madeleine, singing and calling on the 
shopkeepers to light up ; the citizens were taken by surprise, 
and whenever a delay occurred, cries of " Des lampions .'" were 
raised : as soon as lamps were fixed to the balconies, the crowd 
gave a round of applause, and marched on. In this way they 
advanced in comparative darkness, leaving a blaze of light behind 
them. They were in a very good humor, and not the slightest 
damage was done : not a single pane of glass was broken, nor 
did the shopkeepers exhibit any alarm, though neither police 
nor military were to be seen. By ten o'clock the throng began 
to diminish, and by midnight everything was quiet again. 

The Minister of War addressed a circular to all the chiefs of 
corps, directing them to present in future for promotion none but 
candidates entitled to it by their military service. 

After their demonstration at the Hotel de Ville, the workmen 
of Paris proceeded to the ministry of the interior to salute M. 
Ledru RoUin personally, and the different trades succeeded each 
other without interruption from four to seven o'clock, P. M. 
Not less than 100,000 men presented themselves at the Hotel 
during that interval, and M. Ledru Rollin stood constantly under 
the porch receiving addresses and replying to them. 

The position of the armed force of France, in relation to the 
people, was singular. The army, notwithstanding many re- 
assurances, had not recovered from the disgrace inflicted by the 
general disarming ; the public were not sufficiently reassured of 
its disposition to permit the introduction even of two regiments 
into Paris without a murmur. The National Guard was tainted 
with anti-revolutionary tendencies ; the Garde Mobile was 
imperfectly armed and quite undisciplined, and the njilitary and 
political systems seemed alike disorganized. 

The Mint was encumbered with an enormous mass of silver 
plate, brought there to be coined into pieces of five francs each. 
A number of silversmiths, despairing of selling their second- 
hand articles, resorted to this expedient to render their dead 
stock available ; others announced a reduction of 10 per cent, 
on their goods, in order to ensure such a sale as might keep 
their workmen employed. 



678 CHAPTER XIV. 

The arming and equipment of the newly enrolled Garde 
Mobile was urged on with the utmost rapidity. A decree in the 
Moniteur authorized the Minister of War to issue from the slores 
of the army such clothing, &c., as could be spared without in- 
convenience to the service. 

In the face of financial embarrassment, the Government was 
compelled to find the means of supporting an army already too 
large for the necessities or resources of the country. The 
Garde Mobile enlisted in the service of the republic the young 
men of the " people," paid them at a much higher rate than the 
troops of the line, and bore lightly on them in the manner of dis- 
cipline. As it afterwards appeared, they formed the greatest 
bulwarks against anarchy the government could have raised. 

All able bodied men in Paris, from 20 to 55 years of age, 
were invited to enroll themselves in the National Guard. The 
Government undertook to arm them all, to provide clothing at 
the public expense, for those who were not able to equip them- 
selves, and in a short time 200,000 citizens were enrolled in the 
guard of Paris and its vicinity. A discount office, under the 
title of " Endowment for Small Traders," was directed to be 
established for their relief, by giving facilities for pecuniary 
accommodation. The suppression of stamp duties on journals 
and other periodical publications was directed. Another decree, 
dated 3d March, ordered that the duration of effective labor in 
Paris and in the suburbs, should be fixed at ten hours a day, 
for all professions. Slavery was abolished in all the French 
colonies and possessions. 

The French "people" no sooner saw the Provisional Govern- 
ment installed at the Hotel de Ville, than they began to manifest 
the hopes which they expected the revolution to transform into 
realities. Every grievance, real or imaginary, was laid at the 
feet of Messrs. De Lamartine, Marrast, and Arago, with a view 
to a remedy. Carpenters, builders, shoemakers, tailors, semp- 
stresses, purse-knitters, jewellers, flower-sellers, shoe-cleaners, 
grooms, waiters, cooks, and nursery maids, formed deputations, 
day after day, and marched in procession through the streets to 
detail to the government the hardships they suffered in their 
respective callings. Mingling in the throng were dwellers in 
the town and in the country ; hand-workers and head-workers ; 
those who administered to the legitimate wants of society, and 
those who flourished on its vices ; Frenchmen and Englishmen, 
Swiss, Poles, Germans, Italians, the haters of slavery, the 
friends of peace and progress, the benevolent, the patriotic, the 
enthusiastic, the Fourierist, the Owenite, all ranks, classes and 
degrees of men. 



FRANCE. 679 

They sought relief in every form, possible or impossible ; 
fewer hours of labor, better wages, and more holidays. All these 
were but a small portion of the tasks it was expected that the 
Government would accomplish in behalf of " the people." 

In the way of business, things continued deplorable. Money 
became scarce, misery increased, and anxiety as regarded the 
present, alarm as regarded the future, did not diminish. The 
rich families who left Paris during the revolution, did not return, 
and the few who remained continued to emigrate. 

The elections for the National Assembly caused great ex- 
citement throughout all France, and there was, or appeared to be, 
reason to believe that in the Provinces the Republic was not 
quite so popular as in Paris. The danger here, the Provisional 
Government deemed fit to provide against ; for it was justly 
felt that if by any combination of circumstances, an assembly 
should be elected, /containing a majority of anti-republicans, a 
state of anarchy and bloodshed would most probably be the con- 
sequence. 

The Republicans, if proved to be in a minority, would show 
themselves a continual source of alarm and mischief, a minor- 
ity that never would submit, and that would change itself into a 
majority, by dint of its zeal, energy, and strength of conviction. 
To prevent this renewal of a struggle, of which the only possi- 
ble result could be the triumph, at a somewhat later period, of 
republican principles, M. Ledru RoUin and M. Carnot issued cir- 
culars to their agents, which excited much indignant remark. 
That of M. Ledru Rollin was the most bold, and attracted the 
greatest blame. It expressly declared that the agents of the 
Government should use all means at their command to secure or 
forward the return of Republican candidates. The circular of 
M. Carnot took the same ground, and insisted that it was better 
to choose an uneducated Republican from the ranks of the peas- 
antry or the workmen, than an educated Royalist, however great 
his reputation, or pure his character. The object of this procla- 
mation was somewhat misunderstood, as meaning, that in all 
cases an uneducated was better than an educated representative. 
This, however, he never stated ; but, on the contrary, appealed 
to the teachers in the public schools throughout the country 
to offer themselves as candidates, showing them the career 
that was opened to talent and learning by the Republic, and merely 
insisting that Republicanism was the first requisite for a seat 
in the Assembly. Republicanism with education, if possible — 
but on no account education without Republicanism. This was 
his meaning ; and, his advice was generally acted upon. Can- 
didates were found in sufficient numbers combining both requi- 



680 



CHAPTER XIV. 



sites, by which the Assembly was saved from the scandal that 
would most undoubtedly have resulted had men been elected 
with the one qualification only. 

The number of operatives out of employment increased at so 
rapid and alarming a rate, that at the close of one month they 
were expected to number 75,000. The expense of paying them 
at If 50c. a day would amount to 112,500f. and even Louis 
Blanc admitted that it would be impossible for the Government 
to continue such an outlay unless the labor performed should be- 
come really useful and productive. 

On Saturday, the 15th of April, the various Communist 
clubs, whose organization was complete and extensive, gave 
orders to the working classes for a grand demonstration upon 
the following day. On Sunday, the 16th, the first outbreak oc- 
curred. From an early hour in the morning, groups of workmen 
assembled in the Champ de Mars, where it had been fixed that 
the elections of the Captains of the Staff of the National Guard, 
destined to represent the working classes, were to be held. 
These elections passed off quietly enough ; but it soon became 
known that the party of Blanqui, the Communist, and otlier men 
of extreme opinions, were anxious to induce the workmen to 
make a demonstration in their favor, which caused the greatest 
alarm among the middle classes, and led to the most extravagant 
reports. Although these rumors were not credited by reasonable 
people, it was deemed prudent that the National Guard should 
be called out. Accordingly, the rappel was beaten in every 
quarter ; and, in a few minutes after, shops were closed, and the 
National Guard might be seen hurrying to the different places 
of rendezvous of their respective companies. For some time the 
town presented the appearance of the memorable day of the 24th 
of February ; houses were closed, women and children stood at 
the doors in anxious discussion, armed men hurried to and fro, 
anxiety depicted on every countenance ; but there was one great 
difference between that day and that of the Revolution — there 
were no barricades. 

Meanwhile, the crowd on the Champ de Mars continued to 
increase, and it soon amounted, according to most calculations, 
to one hundred thousand men, whilst the multitude looking on 
was nearly as great. After the workmen of the different trades 
had elected their respective officers, they made a collection 
among themselves, which they destined as a patriotic gift to the 
Government, and moved in procession to the Hotel de Ville. 

All the afternoon the National Guards and the Garde Mobile 
were under arms, and occupied all the principal places — the 



FRANCE. 681 

Place de la Bourse, the Place du Carrousal, the Place de la Con- 
corde, &c. Patrols of them also traversed the streets. 

The manner in which the National Guard acted, excited un- 
bounded admiration among the middle and respectable classes 
of society, struck the Communist parties with dismay, and great- 
ly strengthened the moderate section of the Provisional Govern- 
ment. This section, though forming the majority, was continu- 
ally kept in check by the dread of the immense physical power 
which it was supposed that the minority — Ledru Rollin, Flocon, 
Albert, and Louis Blanc — had at their command ; but this dem- 
onstration proved that the real physical power of Paris, consist- 
ing of the National Guard, the Garde Nationale Mobile, and other 
forces, were not only in favor of the moderate party, but ready 
and even anxious to crush their enemies, who were also the en- 
emies of law and order. To this force the moderate section of 
the Government could have added from 20,000 to 30,000 regu- 
lar troops, who were stationed within easy reach of Paris. 

On Tuesday morning, the ] 8th, at six o'clock, the rappel for 
the assembling of the National Guards was beaten in all quarters 
of Paris, in consequence of information that the Communists, 
and most violent of the Clubs, had determined on another attempt 
to overthrow the Provisional Government, to establish a commit- 
tee of public safety, and to attack the Hotel de Ville. 

During the night, great numbers of the Communists assem- 
bled in the neighborhood of the Hotel de Ville and the Tuil- 
eries, uttering threats against the moderate members of the Gov- 
ernment. 

The intentions of the " people" being made somewhat clear 
by these events ; and the danger to society being somewhat more 
manifest than before, the Government became anxious to dis- 
cover whether it could with safety resort to a step so bold as the 
re-introduction of the troops of the line to Paris. The National 
Guard was worn out and harassed, and would hail the return of 
the troops as the greatest boon that could be offered them. But 
the working classes and Communists might be mistrustful. To 
inquiries, made both openly and secretly by the emissaries or 
employes of the Government, a satisfactory reply was obtained, 
and at length it was decided that the troops should be recalled. 
It was not wise, however, to allow the real secret of their recall 
to be promulgated ; and a scheme was adopted to throw the peo- 
ple off their guard, and flatter their national and proverbial love 
of grand spectacles, by one which should cast into the shade by 
its magnificence all the previous spectacles of the Revolution. 
The Grand Festival of Fraternity was devised, and passed 
off in the most brilliant manner. As early as five o'clock on the 



1 



682 CHAPTER XIV. 

morning of the 20th of April, the drums were beat for the assem- 
bling of the different legions of the National Guards ; by eight, 
all Paris seemed to have poured down into the street. The day 
was dull, drizzly, and dreary, but the ardor neither of the actors 
in the mighty show, nor of the crowds of spectators, was to be 
damped. Countless throngs poured along the Champs Elysees 
to the chief point of interest. 

The immense estrade erected beneath and before the Arch of 
Triumph, with its ascending galleries and tribunes, and decora- 
tions of Roman and Grecian attributes, was not without a cer- 
tain grandeur of effect. Upon this estrade were assembled all 
the generals, the courts, and the tribunals, the wounded of the 
days of February, delegates from the schools, the commissions 
and associations of the working classes, and from the clubs. 
On either side, and in the galleries behind, was a crowd of priv- 
ileged spectators and ladies, admitted by tickets. 

The ceremonies were announced to commence at nine o'clock ; 
at eight the tribunes had been filled, but it was past ten before the 
main body of the members of the Provisional Government made 
their appearance. An address to the armed force was read by 
M. Arago, as Minister at War. About eleven o'clock began the 
display. Nothing could be more imposing than the flood of bay- 
onets, as it poured up the long avenue of the Champs Elysees, 
towards the Arch of Triumph. The different troops were min- 
gled in the order of their approach — now a legion of the Garde 
Mobile, now a regiment of the line ; a legion of the National 
Guards, the schools, the associations of artisans, then cavalry 
and infantry. Across the Place de la Concorde, down the ex- 
Rue Royale (now called the Rue Nationale,) and along the line 
of the Boulevards, the scene was the same. The ferment of 
the returning troops, and the swarming crowds, continued until 
long after midnight. The whole city was brilliantly illuminated. 
It was expected that during the night, when all the National 
Guards were exhausted by fatigue, a fresh attempt would be made 
by the Ultras ; but nothing of the kind took place. The number 
of men under arms during the day amounted to 400,000. 

At night the illumination in the Champs Elysees presented a 
fairylike scene. Lights, festooned from tree to tree, were hung 
from the Place de la Concorde all the way to the magnificent trium- 
phal arch, and then the vista was terminated by a splendid display 
of various colored lamps. All the public buildings, of course, 
shone resplendent; and the Chamber of Deputies, and the noble 
edifices on the Place de la Concorde glared with lights, and added 
to the glories of the scene. In the midst of all this, hosts of 



PRANCE. 683 

Republicans, male and female, sang their songs, with that light- 
heartedness peculiar to the Parisian. 

In the meantime, the elections for the Assembly had com- 
menced, and were conducted for the most part with great tran- 
quillity, regularity and order. 

It was remarked as a singular thing in Paris that not more than 
one third of all the persons entitled to vote exercised the fran- 
chise. The working classes hung back — a fact greatly lament- 
ed. It proved that the French, though skilled in eflecting rev- 
olutions, were so little alive to the value of liberty, as to be indif- 
ferent to the right to vote, the great privilege of the freeman ; 
and, on the other hand, it created the apprehension that it was 
not by peaceful constitutional means, but by actual violence, that 
the working classes were disposed to cause their wishes to prevail. 

Late on Monday night, the 24th of April, the ballot-boxes were 
closed, and the elections terminated. The general examination 
of the votes was fixed for Friday, the 28th of April, by an order 
of the Mayor of Paris, who also laid down the regulations to be 
followed on the occasion. Candidates, who obtained more than 
2000 votes, according to the order of suffrages given to them, 
were proclaimed " representatives of the people" by the Mayor. 

The elections throughout France, generally, showed a large 
majority in favor of the moderate party. Some Monarchists, but 
few, found their way to the Chamber. 

The Assembly met on the day appointed, and an immense 
multitude assembled on the Place de la Concorde, on the Bridge, 
and in all the places commanding a view of the National Palace, 
as the building formerly known as the Chamber of Deputies was 
called. On the demand of General Courtais, the Commander 
of the National Guard, the Assembly showed itself bodily to the 
people upon the peristyle of the building ; and the "Republic" 
was proclaimed, amid the waving of innumerable banners, the 
firing of artillery, and the shouts of the delighted multitude. 

All the preliminaries having been gone through, powers veri- 
fied, a president (M. Buchez,) and vice-presidents, secretaries, 
&c., appointed, the members of the Government proceeded to lay 
before the Assembly an account of their ministries since the es- 
tablishment of the Republic. 

On Saturday, May 6, Minister Lamartine ascended the tri- 
bune, and read a document, which purported to be a report of 
the acts of the Provisional Government in the restoration of order, 
the organization of the National Guard, Mobile Garde, the army, 
&c., enumerating what had been done in the midst of two months 
of a crisis during which not a drop of blood had been shed. 
Many portions of this report were much applauded. 



684 



CHAPTER XIV. 



He was succeeded by Ledru Rolin, the minister of the Inte- 
rior, who read a report of the acts of his administration, with 
great vehemence. 

The Minister of Justice (M. Cremieux,) next ascended the 
tribune, and proceeded to read a report of his official acts, in 
which he recounted all the ameliorations applied to the adminis- 
tration of justice, the abolition of capital punishment for politi- 
cal offences, abolition of the pillory, <fec. 

The next member of the Government who ascended the tri- 
bune was M. Louis Blanc, who delivered an extempore oration 
in favor of his Organization du Travail, to which he said the 
Government was committed by its promises to the people assem- 
bled before the Hotel de Ville the day after the Revolution. 
His oration was received with coldness. M. Carnot, the Min- 
ister of Public Instruction, was afterwards heard, and was suc- 
ceeded by M. Beshmont, the Minister of Commerce, who laid 
on the table a sketch of the state of his department. 

M. Garnier Pages, Minister of Finance, concluded his report 
on the financial condition of the country. 

M. Arago, the Minister of War and Marine, and M. Marie, 
the Minister of Public Works, next presented the situation of 
their departments ; and were succeeded by M. Lamartine, Min- 
ister for Foreign Affairs, who took a short review of the aspect 
of affairs throughout Europe. The general tone of his remarks 
was pacific, and in accordance with the principles of his address 
some time before to the diplomatic agents of France. 

In the course of the sitting, a note from Beranger, the poet, 
resigning his seat for Paris, was read; but the Assembly unani- 
mously refused to accept the resignation. 

A stormy discussion then arose on the motion of M. Domes, 
offering the thanks of the Assembly to the Provisional Govern- 
ment for their conduct in the administration of affairs, and 
nominating a committee of five to act as a Government ad interim, 
until the permanent Government of the country had been consti- 
tuted. Subsequently, the motion was modified by the withdrawal 
of the latter part of it, and the Assembly voted that the Provi- 
sional Government had deserved well of the country. The vote 
was almost unanimous. 

On Tuesday, at eleven o'clock, M. Buchez, the President, 
took the chair. It was feared that the result of this sitting 
would. occasion disturbances. A large force was stationed in 
the adjoining gardens, and invitations had been sent to the 
National Guards, to be in readiness to march at the first 
signal. 



FRANCE. 685 

On the following Wednesday, the appointment of an Execu- 
tive Committee, in lieu of the Provisional Government, was 
announced. The result of the ballot was — 

Arago, 725 

Gamier Pages, . . . . 715 

Marie, 702 

Lamartine, ..... 643 

Ledru Rollin, 598 

Those five members having obtained the required majority, 
were proclaimed members of the Executive Committee. M. 
Louis Blanc, M. Albert, and M. Flocon were entirely excluded; 
a fact which the " people" and the " Communists" cherished 
in vindictive remembrance. M. Ledru Rollin, whose violence 
had alarmed the majority, was at the bottom of the list ; and M. 
de Lamartine, who had lent his high name and great popularity 
to support M. Ledru Rollin, was placed next lowest — all being 
most significant facts to show the spirit of the Assembly, and 
the probable policy to be hereafter expected from it. 

While these scenes had been taking place at Paris, the work- 
ing classes in Rouen, Elboeuf, and other manufacturing towns, 
alarmed that the revolution would not take up the questions of 
Socialism and Communism, and decree labor and food to every 
man — whether idle or industrious, skilled or unskilled — had 
been in considerable agitation. 

On Monday, the 15th of May, Paris was the scene of another 
revolutionary struggle. The National Assembly was surrounded 
and entered by thousands of the population, led by Barbes, Blan- 
qui, Hubert, and others, who drove the deputies from their seats, 
and, amid a scene of indescribable tumult, assumed the functions 
of Government. General Courtais, Commander of the National 
Guard, had treasonably opened the gates of the Assembly to the 
mob, and the Prefect of Police, M. Caussidiere, was supposed 
to be another of the conspirators. Louis Blanc was also impli- 
cated in the plot ; and thus organized and supported, the insur- 
rection manifested itself. Having forced their way into the 
National Assembly, the conspirators were not slow to announce 
their objects and intentions. With a drawn sword in his hand, 
Barbes addressed the Assembly, and proclaimed that a contribu- 
tion of a thousand millions of francs should be levied on the 
rich for the benefit of the poor, — that a tax of another thousand 
millions should be paid by the rich for the aid of Poland, — that 
the National Assembly should be dissolved, and an Executive 
Government, composed of Barbes, Albert, Louis Blanc, Flocon, 
Blanqui, Raspail, and Cabet, be immediately appointed. He 
concluded his proposals by demanding the re-establishment of 



686 



CHAPTER XIV. 



the guillotine! The members of the Assembly withdrew, leav 
ing the hall in possession of the mob. 

As soon as the fact of the crime committed against the 
National Assembly was known in Paris, about four o'clock, the 
rappel was beaten in all the legions. The National Guard 
immediately assembled with admirable ardour, to cries of " Vive 
I'Assemblee Nationale .'" The 10th and 3d legions went towards 
the National Assembly to protect it. Several representatives 
joined their ranks, asking for arms. The Other legions, detach- 
ments of the Garde Mobile, detachments of infantry and cavalry, 
and a battery of artillery, went to the Hotel de Ville, to possess 
themselves of the tvv^o or three Provisional Governments who 
had installed themselves therein. M. de Lamartine and M. 
Ledru Rollin were on horseback, side by side, in the ranks of 
the 2d legion. Everywhere on their passage they were received 
with acclamation, and by the cry of •' Vive I'Assemblee Na- 
tionale .'" On arriving at the Hotel de Ville, they entered it 
without resistance. They found about a hundred individuals 
assembled, the greatest number of whom were arrested, the rest 
escaping. No act of violence had to be deplored. M. de 
Lamartine and M. Ledru Rollin left the Hotel de Ville at 7 
o'clock, (they were both on horseback.) and proceeded to the 
National Assembly. The immense and compact crowd scarcely 
allowed their horses to advance ; they were almost borne by 
thousands of arms. Unanimous cries broke out on their passage. 
M. de Lamartine, with his arms extended, and shaking hands 
with thousands, with tears in his eyes, addressed thanks to the 
multitude of devoted citizens. This demonstration accompanied 
him to the Palace of the National Assembly. Between six and 
seven o'clock, the legions of the banlicue entered Paris, by all 
the barriers, to offer their support to the National Assembly, and 
their co-operation to the executive commission. 

At six o'clock, Barbes was at the Hotel de Ville, drawing up 
a proclamation, which was to be printed, and by which the dif- 
ferent administrations were distributed among his friends, when 
two captains, and about ten National Guards of the 3d and 6th 
legions, entered the salle. " Barbes ! Where is Barbes ? We 
must have him !" was their first cry. " No, no ! To arms !" 
cried some men with red belts. " You shall march over our 
dead bodies sooner than have him !" A greater number of 
National Guards then entered, and endeavored to go into the 
salle occupied by three members of the Provisional Govern- 
ment. The sentinels posted by Barbes offered great resistance. 
A deputy-mayor of Paris then came up. There were cries of 
"Vive Lamartine P^ M. Lamartine having then arrived; and 



FRANCE. 687 

he was borne in triumph into the Hotel de Ville, and could only- 
say a few words, which were received with noisy acclamations. 
The 5th and 7th batteries of the artillery of the National Guard, 
headed by their chef (P escadron, made a line in the passage lead- 
ing to the place occupied by Barbes, Albert, There, and others. 
Shortly after seven o'clock the following was issued :— 

" The Hotel de Ville is delivered. The Provisional Govern- 
ment is leaving it amidst the acclamations of the people. The 
conspirators have been arrested. Citizen Bois Lecomte, bearer 
of the present proclamation, is charged to read and cause it to 
be placarded in all the mairies of Paris. 

" Flottard, 
" Secretary-General of the Marie of Paris. 
" May 15. — Seven o'clock in the evening." 

At eight o'clock the following proclamation was issued from 
the Hotel de Ville : — 

" French Republic. 
" Liberty, Equality, Fraternity. 
" The National Assembly is not dissolved. The President, 
yielding to the tumult, declared the sitting at an end. The 
brave citizens of Paris are called on to maintain the respect due 
to the National Assembly, which was elected by universal suf- 
frage. To attack the National Assembly, is to attack the 
republic conquered in February, and proclaimed by the Assem- 
bly. ' Vive V Assemblee Nationale .'' ' Vive la Republique .'' 

" Armand Marrast, 
" Representative of the People, Mayor of Paris." 

Thus the fidelity of the Guards, and the firmness of the Gov- 
ernment, averted the crisis. The plot was widely ramified, and 
parties high in office were implicated. The Government did not 
deem it prudent to proceed against all the delinquents, but most 
of the leading desperadoes were committed prisoners to the 
Castle of Vincennes, among whom were M. Barbes, a man of 
fortune, and highly educated ; M. Raspail, a distinguished 
chemist ; and M. Blanqui, a gentleman of ancient family, and of 
high acquirements and talents. 

Paris had scarcely subsided into quiet after these terrible 
commotions and alarms, when the inhabitants were summoned 
by the Government to a great National Fete of Concord, which 
took place on Sunday, the 21st of May. A procession was 
formed from the Place de la Concorde to the Champ de Mars. 

In the evening all Paris was brilliantly illuminated. The 
Champ de Mars, Champs Elys^es and the Tuileries, were 
lighted by half a million of lamps, aided by ten thousand Chi- 



688 CHAPTER XIV. 

nese lanterns. The most perfect order was everywhere pre- 
served, and no accident occurred to disturb the festivity. It was 
supposed that 1,200,000 persons participated in the fete, and 
more than ten millions of francs were distributed among the 
venders of refreshments, — even the illumination was estimated 
at a cost of upwards of two hundred thousand francs. 

Immediately after the Fete de la Concorde, the National 
Assembly resumed its labors of legislation and oratory. On the 
24th of May, the Orleans Family Banishment Bill, which had 
been referred to a committee, and unanimously approved of by 
them, was brought up. Letters of protest were read from the 
Duke d'Aumale, Prince de Joinville, and the Duke de Nemours, 
(denominated in the proceedings as Francois, Henry, and Louis 
d'Orleans,) against the decree of banishment. A declaration was 
unanimously adopted by the Assembly, as an instruction to the 
Executive Government, to this effect : " A fraternal compact 
with Germany ; the reconstruction of an independent and free 
Poland ; and the emancipation of Italy." D«;rees were signed 
by the Executive Commission, dissolving the clubs of which 
Barbes and Blanqui were presidents. 

An unusual display of military precaution was manifested 
around the Chamber. The entire line of the quays on the 
south bank, adjoining the Chamber, was occupied by bodies of 
troops, (horse and foot.) The quays on the opposite side, 
extending from the bridge in either direction, were occupied by 
battalions of the Garde Mobile. The precincts of the legislative 
palace literally swarmed with soldiers, consisting of infantry of 
the line, cavalry, and artillery. Artillery-men stood ready 
mounted on the horses harnessed to the ammunition-waggons 
in the court. These important preparations were taken on 
account of the debate appointed for Italy and Poland, the topics 
which had served as a pretext for the outrage of the 5th. 

The reports which were circulated of another popular mani- 
festation determined the President of the Assembly to transfer 
to General Cavaignac, the Minister of War, the full command 
of all the troops, as well within as without the palace of the 
Assembly. 

For the whole week Paris continued in a state of alarm. It 
was found absolutely necessary, from the condition of the public 
finances, to put a stop to employing laborers at the public 
expense, and the measures necessary to that end, alarmed the 
workmen, and excited them against the Government. To abolish 
at once the ateliers nationaux was thought impossible and inhu- 
man, but all parties proclaimed the necessity of stopping the 
evil. 



PRANCE. 689 

The Minister of Public Works issued a proclamation, in 
which he distinctly stated that the Government was occupied in 
preparing for the organization of the national workshops 

At an early hour of Monday, the 29th, the rappel was beaten 
in five or six arrondissements, and great numbers of the National 
Guard immediately turned out in arms. By eight o'clock 
several thousand of them were assembled at the different ren- 
dezvous. They were then marched to the National Assembly, 
the Garden of the Tuileries, the Luxembourg, the Hotel de 
Ville, and other places. The different ministries were also 
strongly guarded. At the National Assembly the force was 
immense, not only of National Guards, but of troops of the line. 
The quays, the Pont de la Concorde, and, in fact, all the 
approaches to the Assembly, were strongly guarded. The 
occasion of this overwhelming display of bayonets, was the fear 
of a threatening demonstration against the Assembly and the 
Executive Government. Affairs continued in this state for 
many days, when the election of Louis Napoleon, as represen- 
tative of Paris, for a vacancy caused by the double returns of the 
original elections, led to a demonstration of a more serious kind. 
His popularity seemed great, and he was not only elected for 
Paris, but for three departments wherein vacancies had occurred 
from a similar cause. On the following Sunday his name was to 
be heard in all the assemblies of the holyday people of the lower 
class, outside the barriers of Paris. On Monday morning, a 
new journal appeared entitled, Le Napoleonien, the advocate of 
the Prince, and its first number displaying considerable ability. 
Crowds collected in the quarters leading to the National Assem- 
bly ; troops and National Guards were called out, and amid 
much excitement, because M. Louis Napoleon Bonaparte was 
expected to take his seat in the National Assembly. 

During the day a placard appeared, bearing an address of 
General Piat, Colonel of the Fourth Legion of National Guards, 
(he who had taken possession of the Hotel de Ville on the 24th 
February,) in which he, as an avowed friend of Prince Louis 
Napoleon, disclaimed for him any ambitious project. Other 
friends of the Prince, in the country, were not, however,, equally 
discreet. They carried their ballot in front of their hats, on 
which was inscribed, in large characters, "Louis Napoleon ! 
Vive r Empereur ! A has la Repiiblique .'" 

About five o'clock in the evening, the Government ordered 
strong measures against the crowds assembled in the Place de 
la Revolution. Regiments of infantry and cavalry, and large 
bodies of National Guards immediately crossed the bridge in 
front of the Palace of the Assembly, and forming a junction with 

44 



690 



CHAPTER XIV. 



those already on the Place, cleared it, at the point of the bayonet, 
of the immense assemblage that had occupied it, in five minutes. 
Complaints were made of unnecessary violence on the part of 
the armed force in carrying out this order of the government, 
conveyed through the Minister of War, under whose eye the 
service was performed ; but, as matters had come to something 
like a crisis, no hesitation was allowed when the command 
" Withdraw" was issued. 

Having cleared the Place, a column of at least 2000 Gardes 
Mobiles wheeled up to the Rue de Rivoli, and formed about 
twenty abreast. The order was given to march. The drums 
beat a charge, and the column moved at double quick time along 
the Rue de Rivoli, and through the Rues Castiglione and La 
Paix. Having reached the Boulevard, they proceeded in the 
same order and at the same pace to the Hotel of the Ministry 
for Foreign Affairs, and there halted. In the meanwhile, the 
drao-oons advanced from the Place de la Revolution, by the Rue 
Royale, driving the people before them, who did not comply 
silently, for cries of " Vive V Emperear /" " Vive Louis Napo- 
leon .'" were shouted by them vigorously. The Boulevard 
cleared, the dragoons remained in position. The whole of the 
Rue Royale was filled with National Guards. Access to the 
Place de la Revolution was refused to every body. This con- 
tinued for an hour or two ; ultimately, the people retired, after 
venting their displeasure in shouting. Later in the evening, 
other assemblages that took place were dispersed without 
much trouble. In the Assembly itself the greatest excitement 
prevailed. 

M. de Lamartine took advantage of the panic, and proposed 
that the laws of 1816 and 1832, forbidding the entry of the 
Bonaparte family into France, should be enforced against the 
pretender. The motion was received amid deafening shouts of 
" Vive la Republique .'" 

The recent election of M. Thiers, former minister of Louis 
Phillippe, was still another source of popular excitement and 
jealousy, and every thing had indicated growing restlessness 
and discontent. 

The Government, finding the burden imposed on the public 
treasury too heavy to be borne, had determined on sending 
out of Paris to the provinces about 12,000 of the workmen 
in the national workshops. This was a signal of alarm, 
and on the 22d of June, a body of about 400 went in pro- 
cession to the Provisional Government, for the purpose of 
remonstrance. M. Marie, in behalf of the Government, con- 
sented to receive five of them. To one of these, who had been 



FRANCE. 69 1 

an active party in the affair of the 15th of May, he refused to 
listen, and addressing the others, said, "you are not the slaves 
of that man ; you can state your own grievances." He heard 
them with attention, but failed to satisfy them with the course 
that had been adopted. On returning to their companions, they 
distorted M. Marie's expression, and said that they had been 
called "slaves." The mob then cried, "Down with Marie !" 
''Down with the Executive Committee!" "Down with the 
National Assembly !" 

In the evening they stationed themselves in the Place de la 
Bastile, and at the Barriere du' Trone. 

Barricades were formed at the Porte St. Denis and Porte St. 
Martin. 

The environs of the Hotel de Ville, of the Luxembourg, the 
Boulevards, and the quarters of St. Martin, St. Denis, and Le 
Temple, were all thronged with multitudes of operatives. 

At eight o'clock the square of the Pantheon was filled with 
several thousands, who marched with banners to the Faubourg 
du Temple, where they were joined by large bodies of working 
men. 

Measures of precaution were taken during the evening. The 
National Guard were called out. Numerous detachments of 
troops were stationed at the Luxembourg. At ten o"'clock a 
squadron of dragoons and several companies of the troops of the 
line bivouacked on the Place de I'Hotel de Ville. At eleven 
o'clock a battalion of the line took possession of the court of the 
Prefecture of Police, The peristyle of the Palais de Justice 
was guarded by the Garde Mobile. The Assembly was filled 
with troops. Everywhere the armed force was very numerous. 

The insurgents, in the course of Friday morning, threw up 
barricades in various quarters on both banks of the Seine, and at 
noon was to be seen in all directions the formidable nature of 
the preparations which they had made for the coming contest. 
Their plan displayed great strategic skill and correct judgment. 
The insurrection extended on the right bank from the Faubourg 
Poissonniere to the Seine, embracing thus the whole Faubourg St. 
Antoine ; on the left bank it occupied the Faubouro^ St. Marcel, 
St .Victor, and the lower part of the Quartier St. Jacques ; these 
two positions were connected by the occupation of many points, 
such as the church of St. Jervais, a part of the Quartier du Tem- 
ple, the approaches of Notre Dame, and the Pont St. Michel. 

The church of St. Severin served as head quarters, and the 
Faubourg St. Antoine as a magazine. This plan was ingeni- 
ously conceived, for the insurgents were thus masters of an 
immense semicircle, which formed nearly one-half of Paris, In 



692 



CHAPTER XIV. 



case of check, the nature of the houses and the narrow streets 
created difficulties almost insurmountable to the troops, and 
afforded certain chances to the insurgents of retreat : in case of 
success, it was easy for the insurgents, by advancing a little, to 
occupy the important lines of the quays and Boulevards, and 
they could surround by degrees the Hotel de Ville, which would 
have been thus in their power ; and once masters of that and the 
prefecture, they could have established their government. 

The measures taken by the authorities cost a great number 
of lives ; but that sad result was inevitable, from the savage 
energy with which the insurgents defended themselves. 

Across the boulevard, and quite close to the Porte St. Denis, 
was an immense barricade, formed of four or five omnibuses, 
several carriages, a huge waggon, and paving-stones taken from 
the streets, which were torn up for a considerable distance on 
both sides. A little beyond the Rue St. Denis was another 
barricade, as formidable as the first, and composed of much the 
same miscellaneous materials ; and still further on towards the 
Porte St. Martin was a third barricade, not quite so large as the 
first, but still sufficient to be a powerful defence against a coup 
de main. The end of the Rue du Faubourg St. Denis was also 
closed up with a huge barricade, which prevented the approach 
of troops from the outskirts. The Rue St. Denis, the Rue Vil- 
leneuve Bourbon, the Rue de Clery, and the other streets abut- 
ting on the spot in possession of the conspirators, were similarly 
defended, and thousands of gamins were industriously working 
with pikes and spades, tearing up the streets and adding to the 
defences. 

The barricades were defended by some hundreds of the peo- 
ple in blouses, of whom many were not armed, or at least did not 
show their arms. They had a great number of tri-colored flags 
stuck upon the top of the barricades, with the words " Ateliers 
Nationaux" inscribed upon them. The Porte St. Denis, which 
was in the hands of the conspirators, was decorated with a black 
flaor, and on the top of it were arranged heaps of paving-stones, 
apparently for the purpose of being hurled upon the heads of 
those who might attack it. The insurgents having been called 
upon, without eff'ect, to surrender, the engagement commenced 
and lasted twenty minutes. To the platoons of the infantry the 
rioters responded with a sharp fire, not only from the barricades, 
but from the neighboring streets. At length the barricades were 
taken, but not until the troops had sustained a severe loss. The 
commanding officer of the National Guard was mortally wounded, 
and many men and officers of the Garde Mobile and regular 
army were killed. 



PRANCE. 693 

Discharges of musketry were heard throughout the night, and 
nothing could exceed the alarm everywhere prevailing. About 
one o'clock on Saturday, notice was given by the National 
Assembly that Paris was in a state of siege, and Gen. Cavaignac 
was declared commander of the whole military force. 

After this decree was passed, the Executive Council ad- 
dressed the following communication to the President of the 
Assembly : 

" Citizen President, — The Executive Committee would 
think it was wanting alike in its duty and honor, if it withdrew 
before sedition and a public peril. It withdraws only a vote of 
the Assembly. In remitting to it the power with which it 
invested us, we return to the ranks of the National Assembly, 
to devote ourselves with you to the common danger, and to the 
safety of the Republic. 

" Lamartine, 
" Arago, 
" Ledru Rollin, 
" Garnier Pages, 
" Marie, 
Members of the Executive Committee. 
"24th June. " Pagnerre, Secretary." 

One of the first orders of General Cavaignac, after the capital 
was declared in a state of siege, was that the troops of the line 
and the Garde Mobile should fight, and that the National Guard 
should guard the streets, prevent the assembling of crowds, and 
watch over the preservation of private property. The plan was 
an excellent one. It completely stopped all assistance being 
sent to the insurgents. Every person not on duty as a National 
Guard was searched, his residence asked, and he was led by a 
National Guard to his own door. No one was allowed to move 
out without a passport, and even business was not taken for an 
excuse for being out in these terrible times. 

Many curious discoveries were made in consequence of this 
arrangement. In the Rue de H elder, and in the neighborhood 
of Notre Dame de Lorette, well-dressed females were detected 
carrying ball cartridges in their baskets. A man feigning to be 
wounded was carried on a mattress which was filled with gun- 
powder and ball, and some hearses were seized which contained 
powder and ball. 

Although the fight was resumed in various quarters at day- 
break on Saturday morning, the severest struggle took place in 
the districts of the Cite and St. Jacques. From one o'clock, 
A. M. until four o'clock, P. M., the fusillade and cannonade con- 



694 CHAPTER XIV. 

tinued incessantly. The insurgents had thirteen pieces of can- 
non. Three were taken. About half-past nine the insurgents, 
who were surrounded on almost all points, succeeded in forcing 
a passage by means of their artillery. About ten o'clock this 
column was in the quarter of the Halle, where a bloody encoun- 
ter took place. At the same hour the insurgents of the Fau- 
bourg St. Antoine were marching to operate in junction with the 
column of St. Jacques, and an armistice until eleven o'clock was 
proposed by General Cavaignac, who declared that after that 
hour the most energetic terms would be adopted. 

They refused to surrender, and the combat was resumed. Shot 
and shell were used against the insurgents, the centre of whose 
operations was at the church of St. Severin. The battle raged 
without cessation the whole day in this quarter, and thousands, 
it was computed, fell on both sides. 

At half-past three, P. M., the insurgents were driven to the 
Pantheon and there surrounded ; they fought desperately, and 
with a courage which would be admirable if devoted to a just 
cause, and at five o'clock the Pantheon was recovered from 
them after three hundred discharges of cannon. 

In the course of the day, (Saturday,) the Archbishop of Paris 
received a wound in the groin, which resulted in his death. 
The venerable priest having offered Gen. Cavaignac to go on a 
mission of conciliation to the insurgents, the offer was at once 
accepted, and three members of the National Assembly, MM. 
Larabit, Galli Cazalet, and Druet Desvaux, volunteered to 
accompany him. On their arrival at the entry to the Faubourg 
St. Antoine, the Archbishop and his companions advanced to 
speak to them. They were crossing the formidable barricade 
at the entrance to the Faubourg, when unfortunately the beat of 
a drum alarmed the insurgents. Shots were discharged on both 
sides, and unhappily one of the balls struck the Archbishop, 
who immediately fell. Some of the insurgents went immedi- 
ately to the assistance of the venerable prelate, who was carried 
to the hospital of Quinze Vingts. The insurgents denied that 
the fatal shot came from their side. 

The situation of Paris on Saturday night was still very alarm- 
ing ; though the insurgents had been driven from their position 
on the left bank of the Seine, and that part of the city was quite 
free from them, being held by strong patroUs of troops. National 
Guards, and Mobiles, they were posted with great force at 
various points on the rioht bank, from which the troops had been 
unable to dislodge them, notwithstanding the most vigorous and 
repeated assaults, in the course of which great loss of life 
occurred. 



FRANDE. 



695 



The Faubourg St. Antoine and Faubourg du Temple, towards 
the east, and the Clos St. Lazare, on the north side of the town, 
formed their strong holds in this direction. 

At an early hour on Sunday, the attack was again commenced. 
During the day some attempts were made to erect barricades on 
the left bank of the Seine, but they were instantly destroyed by 
the National Guard and the troops of the Une. Before night, 
the insurgents here were entirely dispersed, with the exception 
of a few isolated parties, who still held out in the most remote 
part of the great Faubourg St. Marceau, and who would have 
surrendered before, but that a rumor had got among them that no 
quarter was to be given. In the whole of that district, however, 
the danger was at an end, and there was not the slightest 
appearance of a fresh insurrection. The island of St. Louis, 
which had been for some time in the hands of the insurgents, 
was also retaken. On the right bank, the insurgents were 
driven from the formidable Clos St. Lazare, after a murderous 
struggle, in which a vast number of lives were sacrificed on 
both sides and dislodged, also, from all the positions which they 
occupied in the Rue St. Antoine, and in the streets between the 
Hotel de Ville and the basin of the Canal St. Martin 

The National Guard and the troops occupied the whole of the 
line of the canal from the Place de la Bastile to the district 
called the Chapelle St. Denis, which last place was taken at a 
late hour, after a murderous struggle. General Duvivier had 
formed a junction with General Lamoriciere, who commanded 
the troops in the north of Paris, and who had succeeded in tak- 
ing the Clos St. Lazare. The insurrection was thus driven 
from the heart of Paris, which it had occupied hitherto. 

At nine o'clock on Sunday night, orders were given that all the 
shutters of the windows of all the houses should be thrown and 
left open, as several National Guards and soldiers had been 
killed by shots fired within the houses by men concealed behind 
them. 

Up to this period of the conflict, it was estimated that the 
number of troops. National Guards, and Garde Mobile, killed 
and wounded, was upwards of 15,000. On the side of the 
insurgents the casualties were not so numerous. 

On Monday morning an armistice took place, when the insur- 
gents sent a deputation to propose a surrender on the condition 
that they should be allovired to retain their arms. This proposal 
was at once rejected by General Cavaignac, who insisted on an 
unconditional surrender, and allowed the insurgents till ten 
o'clock to determine what they should do. At that hour it was 
thought that the terms proposed were agreed to, but some of the 



696 CHAPTER XIV. 

government troops having got within the lines of the insurgents, 
were fired at, and a great number of them were killed. Hostili- 
ties immediately recommenced, which, after a short contest, 
was brought to an end by the unconditional surrender of the 
insurgents, who themselves assisted in pulling down their 
barricades. 

During the conflict on Sunday and Monday, it should be 
mentioned, the National Guards from the departments near 
Paris, particularly Rouen, Amiens, Orleans, &c., fought gal- 
lantly by the side of their Paris brethren. 

Monday night passed without the slightest disturbance or 
appearance of an intention on the part of the insurgents to renew 
the contest. After one o'clock in the day there was no fight- 
ing, but it was not till twenty-five minutes to ten o'clock at night 
that M. Senard, the President of the National Assembly, an- 
nounced that all was terminated, that the barricades had been 
taken down, and that nothing remained excepting that agitation 
which was inseparable from such events. 

A great number of the insurgents had laid down their arms, 
but by far the greater number of them had taken refuge in the 
country between Vincennes and St. Denis, where they were 
pursued by several regiments of cavalry and infantry. In the 
course of Monday evening 1500 took up their quarters in the 
cemetery of Pere la Chaise ; but on an alarm that the troops 
were coming, they retreated to the neighborhood of Romain- 
ville. 

The total number who had fled to the country amounted to 
several thousands. The number of prisoners already made was 
very great. The prisons were filled with them, and every hour 
added to the number. On Monday night 500 prisoners, who 
had surrendered in the Faubourg du Temple, were marched 
along the Boulevard, strongly guarded by infantry, and carried to 
one of the detached forts in the neighborhood of Paris. They 
consisted principally of ouvriers, but several of them were 
dressed in the uniform of National Guards, and a considerable 
number in that of the Garde Republicaine ; and on the same even- 
ing the whole of the city was illuminated, not so much as a 
token of rejoicing for the victory gained, as to enable the sen- 
tries to distinguish each other, and to prevent any further attempt 
upon the part of the insurgents. 

The insurgents had resolved to defend themselves to the last, 
and had posted up a printed proclamation in the streets, declar- 
ing that they would bury themselves under the ruins rather than 
surrender, except on their own terms. They had cannon of 
large dimensions, from which they poured a murderous fire upon 



FRAisrcK. 697 

the troops, and they only gave way when they found that the 
howitzers were rapidly thinning their ranks. They then began 
to fly in every direction, many of them abandoning their 
muskets ; but the exasperation of the troops of the line, and the 
artillery of the National Guard was such that it was impossible 
to prevent a considerable massacre among the insurgents. A 
great number, however, were made prisoners ; and the armed 
fugitives, who in their flight frequently turned round to continue 
the attack, were pursued by a division of the artillery of the 
National Guard to a considerable distance. 

The insurrection was by far the most terrible that has ever 
desolated Paris. The number of killed and wounded will 
probably never be known, but certainly amounts to many 
thousands. Many calculate the number as high as 20,000, and 
none estimate it below ] 0,000. The troops of the line suffered 
greatly, and of the Garde Mobile nearly one-third were either 
killed or wounded. 

Gen. Cavaignac, having fulfilled the purpose for which the 
dictatorial power had been confided to him, resigned it to the 
Assembly, and issued the following proclamation to the National 
Guard and the army : 

" Citizens, soldiers : — The sacred cause of the Republic has 
triumphed ; your devotedness and unshakeable courage have 
baffled guilty projects, and done justice on fatal errors. In the 
name of the country, in the name of all humanity, be thanked 
for your efforts — be blessed for this necessary triumph. This 
morning the emotion of the struggle was legitimate, inevitable. 
But at present, be as great in calm as you have just been in the 
combat. In Paris I see victors and vanquished, but may my 
name be accursed if I should consent to see victims. Justice 
will take its course — let it act — that is your wish, and it is 
mine also. Ready to return to the rank of simple citizen, I will 
carry in the midst of you the remembrance of having, in these 
grave trials, only taken from liberty what the safety of the 
Republic itself demanded, and of leaving an example to whoever 
may be in his turn called on to fulfill such great duties." 

The Assembly then passed a vote of thanks to him and his 
associates, and unanimously yielded to him the chief executive 
authority, with the power of electing his ministers. 

The council, formed accordingly, was ultimately composed 
of the following members : 

General Cavaignac, President. 

M. Marie, Minister of Justice. 

M. Bastide, Minister of Foreign Affairs. 

M. Senard, Minister of the Interior. 



698 CHAPTER XIV. 

General Lamoriciere, Minister of War. 

M. de Verninhac, Minister of Marine. 

M. Goodchaiix, Minister of Finance. 

M. Recurt, Minister of Public Works. 

M. Touret, Minister of Commerce. 

M. Vaulabelle, Minister of Public Construction. 

General Chargarnier was appointed Commander of the Na- 
tional Guard at Paris. 

The Ministry is, for the most part, composed of men whose 
talents and character inspire respect. General Cavaignac him- 
self is considered a sincere Republican, an honest, unambitious 
and able man — one who will seek, in the unexampled crisis of 
the affairs of his country, not to promote his own personal 
aggrandizement, or private interests, but to advance the public 
good — the welfare of the nation. His treatment of the van- 
quished has elicited universal admiration, and his administra- 
tion thus far has been distinguished by judgment, energy and 
resolution. 



Revolutions in Germany in 1848. 

The large number of independent states, of which the United 
Confederation is formed, renders a condensed account of the great 
revolutions that have taken place in them a matter of difficulty. 
They are no less than 37 in number, many of them being very 
small, but each possessing an independent government, and only 
liable to he called upon to furnish a proportionate contingent 
to the army of the Confederation, in case of danger. For hun- 
dreds of years, the desire for the union of Germany into one great 
federal empire, has existed in the minds and hearts of many pa- 
triotic men in Germany ; and the establishment of the great 
Zolverein, or Customs Union, was hailed with joy, as one of the 
means by which this object might be accomplished. With the 
exception of Austria, Hanover, Hamburg, and Mecklenburg- 
Schwerin, all the States of the Confederation immediately join- 
ed the union. 

In the west and north of Germany, poverty had been making 
alarming inroads since 1840, notwithstanding the employment 
afforded by the artificial birth and protection of factories and 
mills. The still more rapidly-increasing population, with its 
intelligence, forced men to think on these matters, and very 
soon did they arrive at the conclusion that their Government 



GERMANY. 699 

increased their evils, without attempting to alleviate them. They 
recognized in the government of Austria an open despotism ; they 
saw through the pretexts of constitutional liberty with which 
Frederick William of Prussia sought to hide the despotic ten- 
dencies of his mind ; they learned to despise the disgraceful 
profligacy of King Ludwig of Bavaria ; they discovered the petty 
tyrannies practiced by the smaller Princes and Electors of 
Germany ; and their minds awakened to a just sense of their 
rights and privileges as men, as well as subjects. Silently, 
these impressions were circulated throughout the different 
states. 

In Baden, M. M. Welcker and Basserman openly called for a 
constitutional government, and freedom of the press. The time 
for action was approaching ; men understood that it was neces- 
sary, and were beginning to measure their strength, when sud- 
denly the fire of the French Revolution of February, 1848, in- 
flamed all Europe ; its sparks flying in all directions, kindled 
the train in preparation throughout Germany, and immediately 
the whole country was in a blaze. Popular commotions took 
place in all the large cities, and the cry was for a political con- 
stitution, which should give the people a share in legislation, 
establish the liberty of the press, abolish odious restrictions, re- 
form the judicial system, and otherwise extend popular rights. 

On the 29th of February, 1848, at Carlsruhe, in Baden, depu- 
tations from every town in the Grand Duchy besieged the Grand 
Duke, demanding liberty of the press, trial by jury, extended 
suffrage, constitutional Government, institution of a burgher guard, 
right of public meeting, and amended representation of the Ger- 
man nations in the Diet at Frankfort. On the 2nd of March, the 
Grand Duke yielded to the demands of his people, dismissed 
his obnoxious ministers, and called to his council M. Welcker, 
for many years the firm and consistent opponent of all the des- 
potic proceedings of the Government. 

Great popular demonstrations were made in favor of similar 
concessions at Mayence, in Hesse Darmstadt ; Hanau,in Hesse 
Cassel ; Wiesbaden, in Nassau ; Stuttgardt, in Wirtemburg ; 
and many smaller towns in those neighborhoods. 

On the 3rd of March, at Cologne, the people proceeded in a 
body to the town-house, where the Council were sitting, and 
required of the Prussian authorities their sanction to similar pe- 
titions. A riot ensued, the town-house was stormed, and the 
authorities made prisoners. The intervention of the military re- 
leased them, and the Governor of the Rhine Provinces promised 
to forward the petitions of the inhabitants to Berlin. On the 
same day the inhabitants of Frankfort met together, and added 



700 



CHAPTER XIV. 



their voices to the almost universal shout for reform, express- 
ing their discontent vi^ith the meagre concessions which the 
Diet had that day made. The Diet had abandoned the idea of 
a universal law of the press for all Germany, and resolved to 
allow each stale to exercise its own judgment in the matter, sub- 
ject to certain guarantees. The 4th of the month witnessed the 
bloodless revolution of Munich. On that day the people of Mu- 
nich assembled together in large numbers in the streets in the 
neighborhood of the palace, and demanded reform. In the ex- 
citement of the moment they stormed the arsenal, possessed 
themselves of the arms it contained, and thus equipped, uncheck- 
ed by the military, proceeded to the palace, and forced from King 
Ludwig those concessions which he had refused to make. A 
week had thus elapsed since the occurrences at Paris, and we 
find that at its close the demands of the inhabitants of the king- 
dom of Bavaria, the dukedom of Baden, the kingdom of Wirtem- 
burg, the dukedom of Nassau, and the electorate of Hesse Darm- 
stadt, had been conceded by the ruling powers. At Hanau, in 
Hesse Cassel, an insurrection, with barricades, and conflicts be- 
tween a portion of the people and the soldiery, were needed be- 
fore the Elector would yield. 

At the united Diet at Frankfort, they agreed that their rulers 
ought to cease to be alone represented at the Diet, and demand- 
ed that the people should have their representatives at its sittings. 
On the 5th of March, fifty-one representatives of different coun- 
tries of Prussia, Bavaria, "Wirtemburg, Baden, Hesse Cassel, 
Nassau, and Hesse Darmstadt, met together at Heidelberg to 
consult on the state of Germany, and the steps necessary to be 
adopted in such a crisis. They unanimously adopted a series 
of resolutions, embodying the following plans : — That no war 
of intervention should be made against the new order of things ; 
that no attempts should be made to deprive other nations of the 
liberty and independence which they had earned as a right ; 
that a representative assembly should be convened for all German 
states, to avert internal and external dangers, and to develop the 
energy and prosperity of the country ; that a body of volunteer 
representatives should be organized to oflfer their assistance to 
Government in this matter ; and that all Germany should unite 
to defend the country against foreign aggression. The Diet, then 
sitting at Frankfort, on the following day declared its conviction 
of the necessity of reforming the Federal Diet, and invoked the 
different German states to send immediately to Frankfort men 
enjoying the confidence of their countrymen, to assist in the de- 
liberations necessary for anew constitution of the Diet. During 
this first week of March, matters remained tranquil in the north 



GERMANY. 701 

and south of Germany, though the uneasiness felt by the royal 
heads and their councillors had very much increased. The agi- 
tation of the sturdy inhabitants of the Rhine provinces, and slight 
symptoms of the same near the capital, induced Prince Fred- 
erick William of Prussia, on the 6th, to promise that he would 
grant to the assembled States the right conferred by the law of 
the 3d of February on the assembled Committees of the States^ to 
meet periodically, at fxed times ; and he promised to confirm the 
privileges of the Committees in a corresponding manner. No time, 
however, was fixed. On the same day the Prince of Prussia was 
appointed Governor-General of the Rhine Provinces. He did 
not, however, leave Berlin. Large bodies of troops were moving 
all this time from the eastern provinces of Prussia to the neigh- 
borhood of the Rhine. On the 10th of the month the King of 
Prussia issued a decree declaring himself dissatisfied with the 
resolution of the Diet with respect to the freedom of the press, 
and announced that, unless the Diet granted substantively the 
freedom of the press for the whole Confederation, he would take 
the initiative for the Prussian kingdom at the next meeting. We 
may here state that on the 14th he issued another decree, an- 
nouncing that, in conjunction v/ith Austria and Saxony, he had 
accepted the invitation of the Diet to send deputies to Frankfort, 
for the purpose of deliberating on the re-construction of the Fed- 
eral Diet on a more extended basis, and in order that, fundament- 
ally united by strengthened free institutions, Germany might once 
more become one great country, and re-assume its ancient grand- 
eur and proper rank in Europe. 

While King Frederick William was thus engaged in Prussia, 
his ally in Saxony was undergoing the process of compulsory 
concession. Dresden and Leipsic pronounced in favor of the 
universal progress, and compelled the King to grant their 
request. King Ernest Augustus of Hanover, after much tempo- 
rising and great delays, which, if prolonged another day, might 
have cost him his throne, was compelled on the 16th to grant the 
demands of the Hanoverians. Long held to be the most politi- 
cally careless race in Germany, their city, one of the most pleas- 
ant in Europe for the resort of foreigners, renowned for its varied 
attractions, musical, theatrical, and scientific, but regarded as 
dead to all else, the Viennese nevertheless preceded Berlin in 
the attainment of the Constitutional Government. 

On the 13th March, the session of the Diet of Lower Austria 
was opened. An immense concourse of the inhabitants assem- 
bled in the neighborhood of the church, headed by the students. 
They drew up a petition in favor of constitutional Government, 
freedom of the press, national armament, trial by jury, and re- 



702 



CHAPTER XIV. 



ligious freedom. Having possessed themselves of the Hall o? 
Assembly, Archduke Albert addressed them, assuring the students 
that their demands should be granted. Notwithstanding this as- 
surance of the Archduke, nothing was done ; a decree, promul- 
gating freedom of the press, was issued, but withdrawn within 
half an hour, and their demands were then refused. Angry and 
excited, the populace and the students rushed upon the arsenal, 
obtained arms, and advanced to meet the soldiers, who were or- 
dered to suppress the riot. In various parts of the town barri- 
cades were built, and conflicts occurred on the night of the 13th, 
and morning of the 14th. The military made no impression on 
the rioters ; and the Government, finding the neighboring coun- 
trymen were flocking into the town to assist the insurrectionists, 
and that portion of the soldiery were also leaving the ranks, felt 
themselves compelled to succumb ; Metternich resigned, the 
unpopular Archdukes, Albert, Ludwig and William, retired, the 
demands of the people were granted, a popular ministry installed, 
and Austria became a constitutional empire on the 1 5th of March. 
Metternich fled in disguise, and his palace was burnt. The ac- 
counts of the number of the slain during these two days vary very 
much ; 150 will be found to be near the truth. 

One of the results of this change was that Hungary obtained 
a national government. The Hungarian Chamber had previ- 
ously remonstrated very strongly against the policy pursued by 
Metternich, and had demanded the recall of the Austrian author- 
ities, and the substitution of Hungarians in their places. 

On the 1 3th of March, a monster meeting was held in Berlin, 
to petition the King for the reforms granted in other countries. 
The meeting, which was rather tumultuous, was dispersed by 
the soldiery ; blood was shed, and several lives were lost. On 
the 14th and I5th, similar meetings took place, which were put 
down in the same way. On the following day the students of 
Berlin, united with those of Halle, joined the people in their pe- 
titions, and threatened to arm, unless their petitions were granted. 
On the 17th the Revolution at Vienna became known at Berlin, 
and, on the morning of the 18th, the King issued that most re- 
markable decree, in which he demanded the union of the whole 
German Empire, the re-organization of its confederation, the 
institution of a common Government, a common army, and a 
common customs union, and very plainly intimated his wiUing- 
ness to ascend the Imperial throne, acknowledging, as he did, 
that, in the adoption of this course of proceeding, he had been 
very materially hastened by the events at Vienna, 'i'hough the 
last German sovereign to grant the demands of his people he 
was perfectly ready, now that popularity was necessary to the 



GERMANY. 703 

attainment of his object, to grant some, at least, of the required 
concessions. He granted liberty of the press, subject to the 
penal laws for libel, &.c., and convoked the Diet for the 2d of 
April. Slight as were these concessions, the great aspirations 
of his Majesty were very popular apparently ; and in the after- 
noon of the same day the people assembled in the square in 
front of the palace, to thank the King and cheer him, when, by 
an unaccountable accident, suddenly two shots were fired, and 
the people were immediately charged by the infantry and 
cavalry, with whom the palace and its courts were filled ; many 
lives were lost, and the people fled in all directions. Barricades 
were erected, the gun-shops sacked, and the people armed. 
All that afternoon and the following night did the battle rage 
with the utmost vehemence. 

In the morning, though apparently successful, the troops were 
utterly worn out with fatigue ; and their General being in the 
hands of the people, a prisoner, the King capitulated, ordered all 
the troops to leave the town, permitted the establishment of the 
burgher guard, granted universal suffrage, dismissed his hated 
ministers, (Bodelschwingh, Thile, and Eichorn,) and nominated 
Count Arnim President of the Council, with Count Schwerin 
and M. Auerswald (all Liberals) as his assistants. On the 
morning of the 19th a royal proclamation appeared, declaring 
that the revolution had been caused by evil-minded foreigners, 
and that his troops did not use their w^eapons until forced to do 
so to defend themselves. On Sunday morning his Majesty was 
forced to appear in the balcony, to see thirty-seven dead bodies, 
the victims either of a blunder or an unfortunate treachery. Of 
the people, nearly two hundred and forty fell during the fight ; 
the number of soldiers killed is not known, but is conjectured to 
be near seven or eight hundred. Of course, very many died of 
their wounds subsequently. On the 20th a political amnesty 
was declared, and M. Camphausen summoned to assist in the 
ministry. During the conflict, the Prince of Prussia, who was 
very obnoxious to the people, remained hidden in the palace. 
He subsequently left Berlin disguised, and fled to England. On 
the 21st, King Frederick William annihilated the kingdom of 
Prussia in a proclamation, and declared his intention of once 
more uniting Germany, and taking it under his guidance in these 
moments of peril and anarchy. Prussia was to be merged into 
Germany ; constitutional government, equal political and civil 
rights, popular and liberal administrations, were the order of the 
day. This proclamation was received with enthusiasm, and on 
the following day the King rode through Berlin, wearing the 
German national colors, escorted by half the population, the 



704 



CHAPTER XIV. 



blood of the slain subjects hardly dried in the streets, and their 
bodies lying in state in all the churches. On that occasion, his 
Majesty swore that he did not intend to dethrone any one Ger- 
man Prince — that he did not wish for the Imperial Crown, and 
only wanted liberty, union, and good order in Germany. To 
assist in the ministerial deliberations on the new constitution, 
Professor Dohlmann, the well-known historian and tried friend 
of liberty, was summoned to Berlin. 

While matters were proceeding thus in the capital of Prussia, 
King Ludwig of Bavaria suddenly abdicated the throne in favor 
of his son Maximilian. On the 22d, the new King opened the 
Chambers in person ; and in a gracious speech from the throne, 
announced his intention of perfecting the concessions granted 
by his father. 

In Austria, matters were steadily progressing ; the Ministry, 
employed in securing by law the liberal concessions, were 
assisted by twelve members of the Diet and twelve citizens. 
The secret police was abolished, freedom of the press being 
considered a guarantee against treasonable associations ; a po- 
litical amnesty was pronounced, and nearly 200 political pris- 
oners were released. 

At Presburg, the capital of Hungary, great dissatisfaction was 
expressed at two decrees, which placed the control of the Gov- 
ernment somewhat in the hands of Vienna ; in the National 
Assembly violent speeches were made, and the two Imperial 
Commissioners were burnt in effigy in the streets. The Bohe- 
mians being also at this time much agitated, Baron Pillersdorf 
promised them that all their demands should be granted ; that 
they should have their national representatives, a national guard, 
and that their own language should be used. On the Gth April, 
the Ministry at Vienna underwent another change ; Archduke 
Ludwig, Kolowrath, and Kubeck, who were suspected of reac- 
tionary designs, resigned office, and were succeeded by Arch- 
duke John, M. Fiquelmont, and Krauss, with Marshal Zanini 
for Minister of War. Hungary continued much agitated, and 
Bohemia was in open rebellion, two or three of the Magnates or 
Princes setting themselves up for Kings. 

Vienna, during the whole of April and May, may be said to 
have been under the rule of the mob, guided by the students. 
On the 10th serious disturbances occurred, Fiquelmont was 
forced to resign, and was succeeded by Baron Sehzellini. On 
the 18th of May the Emperor left Vienna, and by a party of his 
friends, anxious for his personal safety, was conveyed to Inn- 
spruck in the Tyrol. After his arrival at Innspruck, he issued 
a proclamation, in which he promised to confirm his concessions 



GERMANY, 



705 



in March, and offered to return to Vienna when order and tran- 
quillity should be restored. On the 27th of May fresh disturb- 
ances occurred at Vienna, in consequence of an order from the 
Minister for the Interior to the students' legion to disband. Bar- 
ricades were built, and after a short conflict the students were 
victorious. Baron Pillersdorf then ratified the wishes of the 
citizens and students, declared them independent of every other 
authority, and answerable for the public safety. Vienna then 
became tranquil, and the elections to the new Assembly pro- 
ceeded quietly. 

Croatia, Slavonia, and Dalmatia openly revolted, and pro- 
claimed their intention of founding a Slavonic Empire, while 
Hungary, having been fraternally addressed by the Emperor, in 
proclamations and decrees, and its demands having been 
granted, remained tolerably quiet and loyal, the Emperor prom- 
ising to visit Presburg and Pesth. 

In Bohemia events were rapidly hurrying to a crisis. The 
hatred of the Austrian Government was as deep as it was of old 
standing. The weak and vacillating conduct of the Austrian 
Government, the infectious triumphs of the people at Vienna, 
fanned the love of insurrection, and on the 29th of May a Pro- 
visional Government was proclaimed at Prague, independent of 
Vienna, with Count Leo Thun at his head. Immediately after 
its establishment, the Provisional Government, opened a com- 
munication with Vienna, and a perfect conflict of protocols 
ensued, which lasted more than a week. Irritated at the 
triumphs and determination of the Bohemians, preparations 
were made on the 12lh June, by the Austrian commander in 
Prague, Count Windischgralz, to remove some of the cannon 
and other military stores to the neighboring hills, which com- 
manded the city, when the inhabitants opposed this proceeding 
by force. A most fearful and bloody contest ensued, which 
lasted until the 15th, when, finding the troops unable to sustain 
the fight in the narrow streets of the city, Count Windischgratz 
drew off his troops, and on the two following days bombarded 
the town from the neighboring heights. On the evening of the 
17th, thirteen of the insurrectionary leaders surrendered, and the 
town once more was in the hands of the Austrians. The num- 
ber of the slain has not been accurately ascertained, but was 
very great. 

Berlin, in the days immediately after the revolution, quietly 
witnessed the change of ministry, and listening to the promises 
that were made, on the 22d the inhabitants commenced assem- 
bling in moderate meetings, to discuss the social question of the 
day, viz., the want of regular well-paid employment ; they ended 

45 



706 CHAPTER XIV, 

in demanding the formation of a ministry for the administration of 
labor. On the 24th, the King promised the national organization 
of Posen ; and immediately appointed a committee, half Ger- 
mans and half Poles, to confer with his commissioner, Count 
Wilbain, on the necessary proceedings to be adopted. This 
proceeding was regarded with much dissatisfaction by the Ger- 
man inhabitants, who, inimical towards the Poles, composed the 
larger number of the inhabitants. On the 28th of March a new 
ministry entered office ; Counts Arnim and Schwerin retired, 
and their places were filled by MM. Camphausen, Hausemann, 
Bornemann, Auerswald, men of the most radical character. 
Their first step in office was to procure from his Majesty a 
decree placing the whole public business in their hands, and 
rendering them responsible for its conduct. On the 3d of April 
the Diet was opened, and for the first time were its sittings open 
to the press and the public. Ministers were well received. 
Great difficulty was experienced by the authorities in employing 
the people out of work ; large public works were planned and 
immediately commenced, and the poorer classes in the town 
were sent to cleanse the dirty streets. The Diet occupied itself 
in discussing a project for a new law of elections for the Assem- 
bly to be convoked for the consideration of the Prussian Consti- 
tution. The elections were to be indirect ; every 500 inhabit- 
ants, of the age of twenty-four, were to elect one elector, and 80 
of these electors were to elect the deputy. Every one was 
qualified to vote at the age of twenty-four, and to be elected at 
the age of thirty. About 350 members were to be thus elected, 
and so their Assembly would meet as one Chamber. Those 
laws were adopted by large majorities. 

The alarming condition of the province of Posen at this time 
attracted much attention. The concessions made to the Poles 
by the King had very much alarmed the German inhabitants, 
more particularly the peasants. Several bloody engagements 
took place, in the earlier of which the Poles, under Mieros- 
lawsln, obtained the most decisive advantages ; but on the 6th 
of May a general engagement ensued in the neighborhood of 
Xionx, in which Mieroslawski was defeated and made prisoner. 
The routed Poles were pursued and dispersed on all sides. 
The insurrection was completely quelled ; and General Colomb 
having been withdrawn, General Pfuehl, the President of the 
province, by conciliatory, but determined measures, succeeded 
in quelling the turbulent spirits. 

The Assembly at Frankfort has since rejected a proposition 
for the independence of Posen. 

The sending away of some arms from the arsenal on the 30tb 



GERMANY. 707 

of May, excited the students and the people ; the boats were 
stopped, the cases opened, and the contents divided among the 
actors in this scene. The turbulent excitement of the people 
increased day by day ; they demanded that the working classes 
should be armed. This was partially conceded, and they were 
pacified. On the 6th, the Prince of Prussia arrived in Berlin, 
and took his seat in the Assembly on the 8th. His reception 
was any thing but favorable. 

Angry dissatisfaction was excited out of doors by the success 
of a motion in the Assembly that the revolution should not be 
acknowledged. The ministerial crisis existed until M. Camp- 
hausen resigned ; his successor being M. Auerswald, one of 
his colleagues. The present ministry is regarded as rather 
democratic. It has need of wisdom, courage, and determina- 
tion ; for the same causes which effected the fearful events in 
Paris are at work in Berlin and elsewhere. Foresight and pru- 
dence may prevent an outbreak ; but men are beginning to dread 
its occurrence. 

As the Germanic Parliament took a very active part in sup- 
porting the war in Schleswig-Holstein, it will be well to narrate 
the proceedings of that body before the events of the war. The 
assembly of deputies from all the states of Germany, who were 
appointed to make arrangements for the convocation of a German 
Parliament, was constituted on the 31st of March. After a 
preliminary meeting, the plan for the election of the German 
Parliament was proposed, based upon universal suffrage, with- 
out consideration of property, class, or religious creed. The 
Assembly resolved, at its first meeting, to recognize Schleswig- 
Holstein, and urged upon the federal states of the empire, par- 
ticularly Prussia, the necessity of assisting the duchies in their 
endeavors to maintain their independence. They also decided 
upon the incorporation of the province of Posen in the Diet, as 
well as East and West Prussia. During the sittings of this 
Assembly, the Republican party made several attempts to procure 
the recognition of Republican principles, but they were com- 
pletely defeated, the Assembly declaring that the constitution 
of Germany could alone be remodelled upon the broadest con- 
stitutional monarchical basis. They held their last sitting on 
the 7th of April, and then dissolved, leaving a committee en per- 
manence, to keep the Diet which still existed up to the proper 
mark, and to discuss the question of the new German constitu- 
tion. On the 27th this committee completed their labors, and 
presented the Diet their project for a Constitution, which was 
drawn up by the celebrated Dahlmann. It proposed that all the 
states hitherto belonging to the Confederation should form one 



708 CHAPTER XIV. 

empire, with their separate independence somewhat limited. 
That the Government of the Empire should represent Germany 
or any particular state in foreign affairs, and manage all diplo- 
matic matters, determine upon peace or war, controU the army 
and navy, the customs, canals, railways, and telegraphs, all 
legislation, and dispose of all customs and postage revenues. 
The power of the empire to be united in the Emperor, the Im- 
perial Upper and Imperial Lower House. The Upper House 
to consist of 200 members : viz. all the reigning princes ; a 
deputy from each of the four free towns ; Peers to be chosen, 
half by the Parliaments and half by the reigning princes, for a 
term of twelve years, one-third withdrawing at the end of every 
four years ; the Lower House to consist of representatives of 
the people, one for every 100,000 souls. The Parliament to 
meet once a year at Frankfort, and the Lower House to have 
the controll of the budget, similarly to the English House of 
Commons. A supreme court of justice to be instituted at 
Nuremberg, to decide all disputes between reigning princes, or 
against any one of them, and all charges of high treason. 

On the 18th of May the German Parliament met for the first 
time at Frankfort ; 397 members were present. M. Von Gagern, 
the monarchist candidate for the presidency, was elected by a 
majority of 280 votes. The first sittings were occupied by 
questions of form, and in settling something like standing orders ; 
frequent attempts, however, were made by the Republicans to 
procure a Republic in Germany ; and though some differed as 
to the form of government, all were agreed on the question of 
its union into one great Confederation. They appointed a com- 
mittee to consider the proposed Constitution, and another to 
consider whether a provisional central power should be created 
until the adoption of the Constitution. During the sittings of 
these committees many heated discussions took place, but 
nothing of importance occurred, excepting the appointment of 
another Committee, to consider the rights of the people. On 
the 26th of June, the latter, and the Committee on the provisional 
central power, made their reports to Parliament. The former 
issued the following declaration of rights : Religious liberty, 
gratuitous education, freedom of opinion, inviolable secrecy of 
letters, the inhabitant of any state to possess the same political 
privileges while residing in another, right of petitioning, meet- 
ing, and forming clubs ; no political privileges ; equality of taxa- 
tion ; independence of the judges ; trial by jury ; constitutional 
representation of the people in every state ; and the Ministers 
to be responsible ; all Parliaments to be open to the public. 
The other committee proposed the institution of a Directory of 



GERMANY. 709 

State, to be approved and appointed by the German Parliament, 
with very extended powers. On the 27th this proposition was 
rejected ; and on the 28th the Parliament decided upon appoint- 
ing a Lieutenant-General of the Empire, to be perfectly irre- 
sponsible. This also enacted that, on the appointment of the 
Lieutenant-General of the Empire, the existence of the Diet 
was at an end ; and, further, that on the completion and adop 
tion of the Constitution for Germany, the Provisional Central 
Power should cease. 

On the 29th the Assembly proceeded to the election of the 
Lieutenant-General. The choice fell upon the Archduke John 
of Austria, who is uncle of the Emperor of Austria, liberal in 
politics, and a thoroughly practical man. 

But little space remains for a brief narrative of the events in 
Schleswig-Holstein. A long, narrow, sandy peninsula com- 
prises the two Duchies and Jutland. For more than a century 
the two former have been under Danish rule, though they al- 
ways considered themselves as governed by the King of Den- 
mark in his capacity as a Sovereign Prince of Germany. Long 
dissatisfied with the Danish rule, and more particularly with a 
recent refusal of the King to concede to them any of their de- 
mands, they declared themselves independent of Denmark, and 
a German Duchy, on the 26th of March, under the sway of the 
Duke of Augustenburg. The Provisional Government sent to 
Hanover, Berlin, and Hamburg for assistance, which was granted 
from the two former, and before the 3rd of April more than 
13,000 Prussians and Hanoverians had entered Holstein. The 
inhabitants had already possessed themselves of Rendsburg, and 
had expelled the Danish authorities. The Danes were not be- 
hind hand with their military preparations, and very soon had 
an imposing force in the field ; while the extraordinary popular- 
ity of the war in Germany brought shoals of volunteers from even 
the southernmost states of Germany to the assistance of their 
enemies. At Flensburg an engagement took place between the 
Holsteiners and Danes, in which the latter were victorious. 
Nearly 20,000 Prussians and Hanoverians, besides volunteers 
and Schleswig-Holsteiners, were now under arms against the 
Danes, whose forces were nearly equal. During the months 
of April and May a great many skirmishes occurred, with vari- 
able success ; one or two general engagements at Schleswig and 
Apenraade, and one which lasted two days at Duppeln. The 
Danes were driven northward, and the combined troops were 
at one time in possession of Jutland. The island of Alsen was 
also the scene of an engagement. Though beaten and driven 
back on land, the King of Denmark made several reprisals at 



710 



CHAPTER XIV. 



sea. He blockaded the whole northern coast of Germany ; his 
vessels of war took possession of the rich merchant ships return- 
ino- to Hamburg and Bremen — an incalculable loss to the Hanse 
Towns. 

Sweden commenced preparations for the assistance of Den- 
mark ; Russia was reported to be doing the same ; the Diet at 
Frankfort rejected all offers of mediation for a long time, and 
the national feeling in favor of the Duchies was beginning to 
flag. 

By these united efforts, an armistice for three months, between 
Prussia and Denmark, was effected, which was concluded at 
Malmo, between Count Portalis, on the part of the King of Prus- 
sia, and the Swedish and Danish ministers. The conditions of 
the armistice were that the German and Danish troops should 
withdraw, and that the provisional government should act until 
a new administration could be formed from the duchies, two 
members of which should be nominated by Denmark, and two 
by Prussia, apresidentto be selected by the four, or in the event 
of disagreement, by England. 

The duchies declined yielding to this arrangement, and Gen. 
Mansel, who claimed to be a confederate, as well as Prussian 
general, was unwilling to comply with it until he should be em- 
powered from Frankfort. 

It was therefore apprehended that hostilities would recom- 
mence, although Lord Palmerston was anxious that the truce 
should be maintained. It remains yet to be seen whether Den- 
mark is to be further dismembered, or whether the Germans 
are so bent on obtaining the maritime territory of Denmark to 
strengthen their naval power as to risk a war. 



I 



Revolutions in Italy in 1848. 

At the death of Gregory XVI., the political affairs of Italy 
had reached a point which imperiously demanded reform : 
thousands of her citizens were exiled in foreign lands, and the 
prisons were crowded with political offenders. There was no 
public instruction, and justice was unattainable. 

On the 16th of June, 1846, the conclave of Cardinals, assem- 
bled for the purpose of choosing his successor, declared the 
Cardinal Giambatista de Mastia Ferretti, also Bishop of Iraola, 
elected under the name of Pius IX., and on the morning of the 
21st of June, the new Pope was solemnly crowned at St. Peter's 
in the Vatican. 



ITALY. 711 

Pius at once commenced those reforms throughout his domin- 
ions, whose progress attracted the attention of the civiUzed world. 
He suppressed the military warrants, a kind of secret tribunal 
for the seizure and condemnation of political offenders, and pub- 
lished a decree that no one should be prosecuted for his political 
opinions. On a certain day of each week he gave a public 
audience to persons of every rank and condition, without any 
distinction. In the hall of the Vatican he caused a private 
letter box for himself to be placed. He had filled the office of 
Pope but one month, when an amnesty was declared for all 
political offenders. This event was followed by festivals and 
illuminations, continuing many days, both in the Roman States 
and other parts of Italy. To relieve those who had been ruined 
by imprisonment, the Pope joined with many others in a sub- 
scription for their benefit. 

The joy of the Bolognese was so excessive that they voted 
a marble statue to Pius IX. Political parties, throughout Italy, 
resolved themselves into one great parly of the Pope. By a 
circular issued by the Secretary of State, Pius invited from all 
the magistrates, suggestions for the instruction of the poorer 
classes, and for the suppression of the miseries of idleness and 
ignorance ; and a committee was appointed for the investigation 
of the subject, and for the establishment of the desired reforms. 
The income he received from the bishopric of Imola, was 
appropriated to public charities. He solicited from private com- 
panies of citizens, projects for railroads in the Roman Stales, 
for the promotion of industry and commerce. 

Resolving to publish a new code of laws, in place of that 
existing, as old as popery itself, he appointed three eminent men 
to assist in its compilation ; and judicial and penal systems, which 
abolished capital punishment, and established trial by jury, were 
adopted by them. 

By order of the Pope, every town sent a delegate to Rome to 
report concerning the wants of the people, and a private con- 
gress was established to grant all necessary improvements. On 
the 18th of November he preached to a vast crowd assembled 
in San Giovanni, in the Laleran, and afforded the first example 
of a pontiff's preaching publicly. He was followed to the 
Quirinal palace by the multitude, with shouts of joy. On the 
20th of the month he proclaimed a universal jubilee. 

He gave orders to found asylums of infancy, and houses of 
education ; and for laboring people in Rome, who could not attend 
oy day, he established free night schools, at his own expense. 
He prohibited beggary, and at his own cost endowed public 
alms-houses for the destitute. 



712 



CHAPTER XIV. 



In a letter to the leaders of all the religious orders, he com- 
manded them to be examples of morality and religion, and the 
funds of many religious societies he applied to public charities 
and instruction. The freedom of the press was declared, amid 
the rejoicings of the whole people, and the friends of liberty, 
throughout Italy, encouraged the Pope in his system of reform. 

The Emperor of Austria, alarmed by these movements, used 
every measure to change the course of the Pope, and at length 
threatened an invasion of the Roman States. Accordingly, on 
the 19th of July, 1847, the Austrian army entered Ferrara, with 
lighted matches, as if moving against an enemy. The news 
of the occupation of the city excited such a spirit of revenge, 
that in many states the people were clamorous for arms. 

In the course of a few weeks, although there was no outbreak, 
no open display of force, the whole aspect of Italy was so 
changed, that the Papal Nuncio at Vienna was enabled in the 
name, not merely of the Papal States, but of all Italy, to demand 
the withdrawal of the troops. On the 23d of December, the 
Austrian troops were marched from Ferrara ; and the right of 
all the States of Italy, not under Austria, to choose their own 
forms of government, was established. 

Charles Albert, king of Sardinia and Piedmont, was the first 
Italian Prince who favored the new Pope and his policy, and 
offered him military aid against his enemies. 

The Pope and the Grand Duke of Tuscany and Lucca, formed 
an alliance with Charles Albert. The publication of the con- 
vention of these princes set forth "that these states, animated by 
the desire to contribute by union to the increase of the dignity 
and prosperity of Italy, and being persuaded that the true and 
essential basis of the union of Italy consists in the fusion of the 
material interests of the population of their respective domin- 
ions, have agreed to form an association on the principal of the 
German Commercial League, the tariff to be drawn up with the 
utmost amount of commercial freedom, compatible with the 
respective interests of the contracting powers." The news of 
this convention was received throughout Italy with enthusiasm. 
It was a revolution, a return to the ancient free trade policy of 
Italy, and brought with it hopes of the restoration of commerce, 
and the revival of trade and industry. 

Throughout Austrian Italy the impulse was felt ; it made the 
trade-repression rule of the foreign power more irksome. 

At the close of last year the Austrian Cabinet resolved to 
reinforce the army in Italy, so as to have 40,000 men at com- 
mand without lessening the strength of the several garrisons. 
The measure was notified to the great powers as being intended 



ITALY. 



713 



solely for the better security of the Austrian possessions in 
Italy. 

On the 19th of December, M. Nazari, deputy of the city of 
Bergamo, in the central congregation of the kingdom, moved a 
resolution that a committee be appointed to lay before the Em- 
peror of Austria a project of reform for the Lombardo-Venetian 
kingdom. The motion was founded on the universal discontent 
of the country. It was opposed by the Governor of Milan, 
President of the congregation, who declared that the A''iceroy 
himself was engaged in preparing a project of reform ; never- 
theless, the resolution was passed unanimously by the Assembly ; 
the committee was appointed, and the inhabitants of Milan 
crowded to the residence of Nazari to inscribe their names as 
an expression of approbation and respect. 

The committee consisted of deputies from Como, Milan, 
Cremona, Lodi, Brescia, Bergamo, Mantua. But neither in 
answer to the committee, nor as the invention of the viceroy, 
was any reform promulgated or even promised ; instead, troops 
continued to arrive, and the directors of the imperial iron foundry 
at Mariazelie, in Austria, announced publicly that for six months 
they could not execute any private orders, as night and day the 
entire works would be employed in casting cannons and millions 
of projectiles. 

At Pavia the university was provisionally closed ; a fight took 
place between the students and Austrians ; six or seven persons 
were killed, and thirty wounded. 

At Turin, on the 14th, a grand funeral service was celebrated 
in the church of La Gran Madre de Dio, in commemoration of 
the patriots murdered at Milan and Pavia. The most respecta- 
ble inhabitants, dressed in deep mourning, assisted at the cere- 
mony. A similar funeral ceremony was celebrated in the church 
of the Lombards at Rome, the Pope permitting the demonstra- 
tion which the Austrian Ambassador had vainly endeavored to 
prevent. The young men belonging to the Lombardo-Venetian 
Guard, instituted in 1838, at the coronation of the Emperor at 
Milan, all tendered their resignations ; the theatres were de- 
serted, and the expression of hatred to Austria, and condemna- 
tion of the conduct of the police, military, and Government, were 
universal. 

At Venice, notwithstanding the prohibition of the police, ladies 
made a collection for the wounded of Milan, and 8000 francs 
were forwarded, with a letter of sympathy, from the Venetians. 
The Mayor of Vincenzia forwarded 2000 francs from the inhab- 
itants. At Verona, 1600 francs were subscribed in eight hours, 
when the subscription was stopped by the police. On receipt 



714 CHAPTER XIV. 

of the news from Milan, orders were dispatched from Vienna, 
and followed by the arrest of several distinguished individuals. 
In addition to these, as the lower orders were this time discon- 
tented, upwards of 400 of them were apprehended; 180 of the 
youngest and most robust were sent to Trieste to serve in the 
ships of the Imperial navy, and the remainder, without even the 
form of a trial, were transported to Illyria and Moravia, to work 
as galley slaves ; 30,000 troops were quartered in Milan, 10,000 
in Verona ; and the regiment of Giulay, of disgraceful notoriety 
in the massacre of Gallicia, was quartered at Pavia. 

The Emperor wrote to the Archduke Rainer, Viceroy of the 
Lombardo-Venetian kingdom : — " I have duly examined the 
events which occurred at Milan on the 2d and 3d instant. It 
is evident to me that a faction, desirous to destroy public order 
and tranquillity, exists in the Lombardo-Venetian kingdom. All 
that you deemed necessary to satisfy the wants and wishes of 
the different provinces, I have already done for the Lombardo- 
Venetian kingdom. / am not disposed to grant further conces- 
sions. Your Highness will make known my sentiments to the 
public. The attitude of the majority of the population of the 
Lombardo-Venetian kingdom, however, induces a hope that 
similar distressing scenes shall not again occur. At all events, 
I rely on the loyalty and courage of my troops?'' 

(Signed, Ferdinand I.) 

This letter was interpreted by General Radetzsky in an order 
of the day issued to the troops under his command, in terms the 
most outrageous and offensive. 

The letters of the Emperor and his general had some effect. 
On the 21st of June, three hundred of the most respectable 
inhabitants of Milan applied to the police for their passports ; 
every body dreaded a second Gallicia, and was eager to leave 
the country before the fury of Austria might break forth in 
pillage and massacre. 

During the course of these events in Venetian Lombardy, the 
subjects of Ferdinand of Sicily also demanded extensive reforms. 

A promise that public offices in Sicily should be filled by 
Sicilians, had been openly broken, and that the people might 
have no opportunity of remonstrating, the liberty of the press 
had been abolished, and all foreign newspapers, even those of 
absolute Governments, had been prohibited. 

The people petitioned for reforms, and were put off with 
promises. At the commencement of the present year, Ferdi- 
nand of Naples became active, presided daily at councils, at 
which the state of the country, the deficit in the finances, and the 



ITALY. 715 

need for immediate abandonment of the old, worn-out and hateful 
political forms, were eagerly discussed. 

It was argued, also, that the army should be diminished. 
Ferdinand felt it no easy matter to let go absolute power, to 
abandon the notion that the people of Sicily were born to obey 
him and pay him taxes. 

Their demands were, therefore, from day to day, adjourned, 
until their patience could endure no longer, and the popular dis- 
satisfaction broke out into open rebellion. There was some 
hope in Sicily and Naples that, on the King's birthday, the new 
and repeatedly promised constitution would be declared. The 
result of the final extinction of these expectations was the out- 
burst of rebellion in Palermo. 

Nobles, students, women, priests, the whole populace, deter- 
mined to be trifled with no longer, turned out and fought. The 
garrison took refuge in the Palace and small forts about the city. 
These forts were attacked, and the whole of Palermo, and, it 
might be said, all Sicily, fell into the hands of the insurgents. 
The news threw Ferdinand into a fever of rage and fury ; a re- 
inforcement of 4500 men were ordered to embark immediately ; 
and, under the command of the Count d'Aquila, the King's 
brother, landed at Palermo on the l5th ; but the Count did not 
dare to risk a battle with the people. The troops remained in 
the forts, and, during forty-eight hours, continued to fire upon 
and bombard the city. The people, however, were not to be 
conquered. They attacked, and, by fierce fightings, took the 
fort of Castellamare. The whole populace were on the point of 
rising. The King's brother returned to Naples ; his report con- 
vinced even the King that immediate concessions must be made. 
The Palermitans demanded and obtained the proclamation of the 
constitution of 1812, which of right had belonged to them ever 
since that date. On the 29th the constitution was announced 
at Messina ; on the 30th, at Palermo ; and, on the same day, 
steamers were sent to bring back the troops. 

At Naples, meanwhile, popular feeling, excited by the events 
in Sicily, had reached such a height, that there was no safety 
except in granting a constitution there also, which was accord- 
ingly published on the 28th, and on the 8th of February a con- 
stitution was proclaimed in Sardinia. 

Throughout Italy, the progress of these events was watched 
eagerly, and the accounts welcomed with the utmost enthusiasm. 
At Genoa there was a popular rejoicing, and the shout of the 
people, heard in all directions, was " A Constitution for Pied- 
mont !" At Rome the people crowded out for miles to meet the 
couriers on the Via Appia, and extraordinary supplements were 



716 CHAPTER XIV. 

issued hourly by the newspapers. A fete was held to celebrate 
the triumph of the Liberals. There was a similar fete at Flor- 
ence, and at nearly all the other great towns of Italy. 

In Lombardy, the people, beset by 100,000 soldiers, scarcely 
dared to rejoice. Austria was marching more troops upon them. 
The little army of the Duke of Medona had been incorporated 
with the Grand Duchy, and placed under the command of General 
Radetzsky. On the 29th, 30th and 3 1st of January, the railroad 
from Treviglio to Milan was closed to the public, being exclu- 
sively occupied with the conveyance of troops from Lombardy. 
The army was to keep back the tide of opinion rising through- 
out Italy ; there was no chance of peace but in submission ; no 
hope of reform under Metternich and P'erdinand. But this 
gathering army and the gloomy adherence to relentless tyranny 
increased the hatred of Austrian rule, and enlisted universal 
sympathy for its victims. 

At the Bologna/e^e, to celebrate the proclamation of the Nea- 
politan constitution, the popular cry was " Live the Constitu- 
tion !" " Death to the Austrians !" " Let us march to Lombardy 
to assist our brethren !" 

But the case of Lombardy seemed hopeless ; the army had been 
increased to 110,000, with 700 cannon. Arrests were incessant; 
the prison of Milan was crowded ; numbers were sent to the 
House of Correction at Porta Nuova. The Austrians were 
everywhere insulted ; it was evident that the storm of popular 
indignation must burst forth soon ; that the struggle would be a 
fierce one, though it was scarcely possible to believe the Italians 
could be successful. The outbreak was hastened, and help 
came to them from a quarter altogether unexpected. 

Austria was the first to feel the revolutionary impulse given 
by France : the whole policy of Metternich fell before it, and 
he himself had to escape in disguise from amongst a people to 
whom he had so long been a source of terror. With his fall 
absolutism perished, and the will of the people was acknowl- 
edged. A constitutional Government was declared at Vienna, 
but it was too late to save the dominions in Lombardy by any 
Austrian form of Government. 

On the 17th of March the Austrian Viceroy left Milan, and 
met on the road the courier with the intelligence of the popular 
triumph at Vienna. On the 18th, the Milanese seized on the 
military post at the palace of the governor, and began the con- 
struction of barricades ; carriages were seized upon and over- 
turned — the pavement was torn up ; not a soldier was to be seen, 
and the barricades were finished during the night. 

On the morning of the 18th the fighting commenced. The 



ITALY. 717 

fire of cannon and musketry was kept up all day. The artillery 
planted in front of the cathedral and palace were seized by the 
people. A Provisional Government was formed, and the fighting 
continued on the 20th with doubtful success to the people, who, 
noth withstanding the support of a body of Swiss, were forced 
from the centre of their movement. 

On the morning of the 2l6t they regained their position, took 
possession of the powder magazine, and planted a cannon in the 
tower of San Celso. General Radetzsky offered to treat with 
the Provisional Government, but was refused, unless on terms 
of unconditional surrender. 

A deputation was despatched to Turin, demanding assistance, 
which was at once granted, and the Piedmontese force, under 
the command of the Duke of Genoa, crossed the frontiers, and 
advanced upon Milan on the22d. The Austrian^ retired before 
it, and left the city garrisoned by its own citizens and the 
auxiliary forces of Piedmont. 

On the 18th, the people of Parma rose suddenly and took pos- 
session of the chief posts in the city. On the 20th, after some 
fighting, the Duke issued a proclamation, declaring the appoint- 
ment of a council, with supreme authority to give such instruc- 
tions and adopt such measures as the circumstances might 
require, whilst he and his royal family quitted the states. On 
the same day the Duke of Modena was deposed and imprisoned, 
and the Austrians were driven out of Pavia. 

On the 19th, Venice, Trieste, and Padua were in open insur- 
rection ; rebellion also spread through Vincenza, Treviso, and 
the whole of the Venetian territory, as far as Verona. On the 
22d, General Count Zicler capitulated with the Provisional Gov- 
ernment of Venice, and set it free from the domination of Aus- 
tria. The King of Sardinia, Charles Albert, issued a proclama- 
tion, taking Lombardy under his protection, marched an army to 
join his forces at Milan, took the field boldly to drive Austria 
beyond the Alps, and virtually proclaimed himself the liberator 
of Italy. The Austrians were driven beyond the Mincio at 
Goito, and compelled to surrender Peschiera. 

On the 1st of March, an insurrectionary movement took place 
at Rome, in consequence of its being understood that the Pope, 
influenced by an intrigue amongst the Cardinals, had refused to 
declare war against Austria. The people had allowed him the 
previous day to form his resolution ; and at five o'clock in the 
morning the whole city was on foot, in eager impatience. The 
answer was that war would be formally declared ; and (as the 
people had also demanded a complete separation of temporal and 
spiritual affairs,) that no priest should be appointed to fill any 



718 CHAPTER XIV. 

public employment ; that Pius the Ninth was the head of the 
Government ; that a daily official bulletin would be published 
of the events of the great war, and encouragement given to the 
Roman youth to arm and drive the barbarians from Italy. This 
satisfied the people ; the ferment was calmed, and all classes 
were united. 

On the 13th of April, the Sicilian Parliament passed by accla- 
mation a decree, " That Ferdinand Bourbon and his dynasty 
were forever fallen from the Throne of Sicily. Sicily should 
govern herself constitutionally, and call to the throne an Italian 
Prince as soon as she shall have reformed her constitution. 

The list of candidates for the throne were a son of the King 
of Sardinia, the son of the Duke of Tuscany, Louis Napoleon 
Bonaparte, (son of Lucien Bonaparte,) and the Prince de Beau- 
harnais. Enraged by this boldness, the King of Naples declared 
war against Sicily. From first to last, the conduct of Ferdinand 
was false and treacherous : no promise was kept, and every 
opportunity was grasped at to weaken or retract the liberal 
measures he was forced to yield. 

The Commons had been returned ; but no Peers had been 
elected by the people. On the 15th the houses were to meet. 
No Peers had been named up to the 13th, but, on the 14th, a 
proclamation appeared, emanating from the King, nominating 
fifty members for the House of Peers. Immediately on the 
publication of this document the Commons met privately, and 
agreed to address the National Guard on this encroachment of 
royal authority. 

On Saturday, the 13th of May, the deputies were assembled 
in preparatory session, to modify the form of oath to be taken 
at the opening of the Parliament. The oath was, " I swear 
fidelity to the King and the Constitution of the 29lh of January." 
The deputies refused this form, as not being in accordance with 
the concessions of the 3d of April ; the National Guard, num- 
bering 15,000, objected, and Saturday and Sunday were passed 
in negotiations. At eleven o*clock on Sunday night it was 
announced that the King would not modify the form. Eight 
deputies met, declared the sitting permanent, and sent a deputa- 
tion to treat with the King, but without success. Another 
deputation was sent at twelve , the King asked time to consider, 
and at length pretended to accept a modification of the oath, 
reserving the rights of the 3d of April. Meanwhile, the troops 
had been ordered out. Soon after midnight the National Guards 
began raising barricades ; at half past one the generale was 
beaten, and at two, the troops, cavalry, infantry, and artillery, 
occupied the spaces round the palace, castle, and market-place. 



ITALY. 



719 



On being informed that barricades had been thrown up, the 
King ordered the withdrawal of the troops, and promised that 
the ParUament should be opened without any oath. But he 
was not to be beHeved ; and the National Guards refused to 
lower the barricades uidess the Chamber of Peers were abol- 
ished, the fortresses surrendered, and the troops removed from 
the metropolis. The soldiers were called out again, and at nine 
o'clock the Swiss Guards were drawn up round the castle. A 
musket was discharged by accident ; the National Guard com- 
menced firing, the Swiss and artillery opened a murderous fire 
upon the people, and the battle raged in all directions. 

At San Fernando and San Bridgida, the National Guard 
maintained their ground for three hours under an incessant fire 
of musketry and artillery. The town was given up to pillage 
and massacre. At a preconcerted signal the troops burst into 
house after house, and, without regard to sex, massacred the 
inhabitants. 

At the last accounts. Great Britain had offered to mediate 
between Austria and the Italian States, and hopes are enter- 
tained that a settlement of the difficulties in Italy will soon be 
realized. 



NOTES. 



CHAPTER I.— Intkoductioh. 

Diplomatics ouglit not to be confounded with diplomacy, which means 
a knowledge of the interests of different states, and the policy of foreign 
courts, &c., by means of ambassadors, envoys, consuls, &c. 
The first that undertook to teach this science in a university, was the 
celebrated Corning, a professor at Helmstadt. His programme or pro- 
spectus was published in 1660. Godfrey Aghenwall, a professor at 
Gottingen, 1748, is regarded as the inventor of the name. 
Before this time Pope Leo X. had paid some attention to the reforma- 
tion of the calendar. A letter which he wrote on the subject to Henry 
Vni. of England, may be seen in Rymer's Foedera, vol vi. p, 119. 
From the year 1793 to the end of 1805, the French, by a decree of the 
national convention of the 5th of October, adopted a method of com- 
puting by what they called the repztblican year. It began at midnight 
of the autumnal equinox, viz. the 21st or 22d of September. It was 
divided into twelve months of thirty days each, followed by five or six 
supplementary days. This innovation, however, ceased on the 31st of 
December, 1805. 

It is to this circumstance that the term ^ra owes its origin. It is not 
a classical word, but was first used by the Spaniards ; and is merely 
the jiitials or first letters of Anno Erat lieganante Augusta. T. 
This calculation, however, was incorrect, inasmuch as nineteen exact 
solar revokitions amount only to 6939 days, 14 hours, 26', 15" ; while 
235 true lunations, contained in the cycle of 19 years, only give 6939 
days, 16 hours, 31', 45". The lunar cycle consequently exceeded the 
19 solar revolutions by 2 hours, 5', 30". This error was corrected at 
the reformation of the calendar, by Gregory XIII. 

NOTES TO CHAPTER II.— Period I 

The name of Alemanni, erroneously applied afterwards to all the Ger- 
man nations, was originally restricted to a particular tribe, which we 
here designate by the name of the Alemanns, to distinguish them from 
the modern Germans {Allemands.) 

The Guttones of Pliny, the Gothones or Gotones of Tacitus, and the 
Gythones of Ptolemy, whom these authors place in the northern part 
of ancient Germany, near the Vistula, were most probably one and the 
same nation with the Goths ; and ought not to be confounded with the 
Getce, a people of ancient Dacia. 
' We find a Gothic bishop, named Theophilus, among the bishops who 
signed the acts of the first Council of Nice. Ulfilas, a Gothic bishop 
towards the middle of the fourth century, translated the Bible into the 



NOTEis. 721 

language of his nation, making use of the Greek and Roman charac- 
ters. His Four Gospels, preserved in the Codex Argenteus, in the 
library at Upsal, is the most ancient specimen we have of the German 
language, of vt'hich the Gothic is one of the principal dialects. Vide 
Fragments of Ulfilas, published by M. Zahn. 1805. 
The identity of the Franks with these German tribes, may be shown 
from a passage of St. Jerome, as well as by the Table Peutingerienne. 
ou Theodosienne, so called, because it is supposed to have been dravm 
up under the Emperor Theodosius, about the beginning of the fifth 
century ; though M. Mannert, in his Treatise De Tab. Peuting, atate, 
has proved that it is as old as the third century ; and that the copy 
preserved in the library at Vienna, and published by M. de Scheyl, is 
but an incorrect copy, which he attributes to a monk of the thirteenth 
century. From this Table, it appears that, in the third century, the 
name Francia was given to that part of Germany which is situate in 
the Lower Rhine in Westphalia ; and that the Bructeri, the Chauci, 
Chamavi, Cherusci, Ampsivarii, &c. were the same as the Franks. 
The names of Saltans and Eipuarians, evidently taken from the situa- 
tion of some of these tribes on the Rhine, the Yssel, or Saal, appear to 
have been given them by the Romans, and were afterwards retained 
by them. 

Ammianus Marcellinus, Lib. 31 c. 2. Jornandes Be Rebus Geticis, 
cap. 35. This latter historian gives the following portrait of Attila, 
King of the Huns. " His stature was short, his chest broad, his head 
rather large, his eyes small, his beard thin, his hair grey, his nose flat, 
his complexion dark and hideous, bearing evidence of his origin. He 
was a man of much cunning, who fought by stratagem before he en- 
gaged in battles " 

We may judge of the extent of the kingdom of the Burgundians by 
the signatures of twenty-five bishops, who were present at the Council 
of Epao, held by Sigismond, King of Burgundy, in 517. These bish- 
ops were the following: Besancon, Langres, Autun, Chalons, Lyon, 
Valence, Orange, Vaison, Carpentras, Cavaillon, Sisteron, Apt. Gap, 
Die, St. Paul-trois-Chetaux, Viviers, Vienne, Embrun, Grenoble, Ge- 
neva, Tarantaise, Avenche, Windische, Martigny in the Bas-Valais, 
Taurentum in Provence. Vide Labbei, Acta Condi, vol. iv. p. 1573, 
1581. 

Many kings and chiefs of diffierent nations marched nnderhia command 
Jornandes (cap. 38.) observes — " As for the rest, a rabble of kings, if 
they may be so called, and leaders of divers nations ; they waited like 
satellites the orders of Attila ; and if he gave but a wink or a nod, 
every one attended with fear and trembling, and executed his com- 
mands without a murmur. Attila alone, like a king of kings, had the 
supreme charge and authority over them all." 

The Salian Franks are distinct from the Ripuarian, who formed a sepa- 
rate kingdom, the capital of which was Cologne. There were also, 
about the end of the fifth century, particular kings of the Franks at 
Terouane, Mams, and Cambray, all of whom were sfubdued bv Clovisv 
shortly before his death in 511. 

Clovis took from th.e Alemanns a part of their territories, of which he 
formed a distinct province, known afterwards by the name of Frann.ee 
on the Rhine. They retained, however, under their hereditary chiefs, 
Alsace, with the districts situated beyond the Rhine, and bounded oo 
the north by the Oos, the Entz, the Necker, the Muhr, the Wemita 
and the Jagat. Vide Schcepflin, Alaatia Illtat. vol. i. p. 630 

46 



722 



NOTES. 



10 The Visigoths then retained no other possessions in Gaul than Septi. 
mania, or Languedoc. Their terruories between the Rhone, the Alps, 
and the Mediterranean, passed to the Ostrogoths, as the reward for ser- 
vices which the latter had rendered them in their wars with the Franks. 

11 Scheidingen, on the left bank of the Unstrut, about three leagues from 
Naumburg on the Saal, is supposed to have been the residence of the 
ancient kings of Thuringia. Venantius Fortunatus, the friend of queen 
Radegonde, a princess of Thuringia, gives a poetical description of it 
in his elegy De Excidis Thuringiae. 

12 Belisarius was recalled from Italy by the Emperor Justinian, in 549. 
He afterwards incurred the displeasure of the court of Constantinople ; 
but what modern writers have asserted, that he was blind, and reduced 
to beg his bread, is destitute of foundation. Mascow, Geshichte der 
Teutschen. 

13 Agathias, lib. 1. p. 17, asserts, that the Goths abandoned the nation of 
the Alemanns to the Franks, in order to interest the latter in their cause 
against the Greeks. The same was the case with that part of Gaul, 
situate between the Alps, the Rhone, and the Mediterranean, which 
pertained to the Ostrogoths, and which they ceded to the Franks, on 
condition that they would never furnish supplies to the Greeks. 

14 The name of the Bavarians does not occur in history before the middle 
of the sixth century, when Jornandes, Be Eeb. Geticis, and Venantius 
Fortunatus. in his poems, speak of them for the first time. Mannert, 
Geschichte Bajoariens, p. 108, reckons the Bavarians an association of 
several German tribes ; the Heruls, Rugians, Turcilingians, and Scy- 
rians, all orig nally emigrating from the shores of the Baltic. The new 
settlements which they formed in Upper Germany, comprehended that 
part of ancient Rhetia, Vindelicia, and Noricum, which lies between 
the Danube, the Lech, and the Noce in Pannonia, and the Tyrol. 
They were governed by kings or chiefs, who, from the year 595, were 
dependants on the Frankish crown. 

15 Clovis left the Alemanns, after their defeat, a considerable part of their 
territories under hereditary chiefs, who acknowledged the superiority 
of the Frankish kings. Such of the Alemanns as Theodoric King o( 
Italy then received into a part of Rhetia and Noricum, continued de- 
pendtrnts on the kingdom of the O&trogoths, till the decay of that mo- 
narchy, near the middle of the sixth century, when they became subject 
to ths dominion of the Franks. 

16. Tacitus De Moribus German., cap. 2. It was the prerogative of free- 
men to have the honor of bearing arms. Even bishops and ecclesias- 
tics, when admitted into the national assemblies, and to the rights and 
privileges of freemen, never failed to claim this military dignity ; and 
occupied, like others, their ranks in the army. 

17 We find among the German nations, from the remotest times, the dis- 
tinction into nobles, freemen, and serfs ; a distinction which they still 
preserved, in their new settlements in the Roman empire. 

18 Called Ordeals. Besides the trial by singln combat, there were others 
by hot iron, boiling or cold water, the cross, ^-c. Vide Ducange Gloss. 

19 The Goths, Vandals, Suevi, and Alans, were already Christians, when 
they settled within the bounds of the Western Empire. They follow- 
ed the doctrines of Arius, which they had imbibed in the east ; and, 
which the Suevi of Galicia abandoned for the orthodox creed under 
their King Cariaric, about 551 ; and the Visigoths of Spain, under their 
King Recarede, in 589. The Lombards of Italy were, at first, Arians, 
but became Catholics, under their King Agilulphus, in 602. The Van. 



NOTES. 723 

dais and Ostrogoths, on the contrary, having persisted in Arianism ; 
this perseverance may be numbered among the causes that hastened 
the destruction of their monarchy, both in Italy and Africa. As to the 
Burgundians they did no; embrace Christianity till after their establish, 
ment in Gaul. Their example was soon followed by the Franks, who 
likewise protected the dissemination of the orthodox faith among the 
German nations, settled in their dominions beyond the Rhine. The 
Christian religion was introduced, about the end of the sixth century, 
among the Anglo-Saxons in Britain, by some Benedictine monks, 
whom Pope Gregory I. had sent there. Ethelbert, King of Kent, was 
the first of the Anglo-Saxon kings that embraced Christianity, by the 
persuasion, it is said, of his queen. Bertha, daughter of Charibert I. 
King of Paris. 

SO The possessions of the Ostrogoths in Gaul, lying between the Rhine, 
the Alps, and the Mediterranean, were ceded to the Franks about 536. 

21 Eginhard, Vita Carol. Mng., cap. 11. It seems then an error in history, 
to designate these princes as a race of kings, who had all degenerated 
into a state of imbecility or idiocy. (Of this opinion was the Abbe 
Vcrtot, who endeavors to rescue these monarchs from this generally 
received imputation. Vide Memoir de I'Academie, vol. iv. T.) 

23 This same St. Boniface, in 744, induced the archbishops of France to 
receive, after his example, the pallium from Pope Zacharias, acknow- 
ledging the jurisdiction and supremacy of the Roman See. This ac- 
knowledgment of the Romish supremacy, had already taken place in 
England, in GOl and G27, when the archbishops of Canterbury and 
York, received the pontificial pallium. Vide Bede. I- ist. Eccles. 

83 It is alleged that state politics had no small share in favoring this zeal. 
Not only did the emperors reckon, by abolishing images, to weaken 
the excessive power of the monks who domineered over the Byzantine 
court ; but they regarded also the destruction of this heretical worship, 
as the only means of arresting the persecutions which the Mahometans 
then exercised against the Christians in the east, whom they treated as 
idolators, on account of their veneration for images. 

24 The name Exarchate was then given to the province of Ravenna, be- 
cause it, as well as the Pentapolis, was immediately subject to the ex- 
arch as governor-general ; while the other parts of Grecian Italy were 
governed by delegates, who ruled in the name and authority of the 
exarch. 

25 It was during his sojourn at Chiersi that Pope Stephen II. gave the de- 
cisions that we find in Sirmondi, Concil, Gall. vol. II. 16. Anastasiua 
(in Muratori, vol. III. p. 168, 186) mentions Chiersi as the place of this 
donation, which he also says was signed by Pepin and his two sons. 
This prospective grant is even attested by the letter which Stephen II. 
addressed to Pepin and his sons, immediately on his return to Rome, 
exhorting them to fulfil their engagements without delay. 

26 The Pope, in his letters to Pepin, calls this donation an augmentation 
of the Romish dominion ; an extension of the Romish territory, &c. 
Cenni, vol. I. p. 85, 124. Besides the city and duchy of Rome, Anas- 
tasius mentions various former grants of territories to the Romish 
Church. The same author informs us, that the original of Pepin's do- 
nation existed in his time in the archives of the Romish See, and he 
Jjas recorded the places gifted to the church. 

27 Different interpretations have been given to the word Saracens, which 
the Greeks, and after them the Latins, have applied to the Arabs. Some 
explain it by robbers or brigands, and others by Orientals, or natives 



724 NOTES. 

of the east. Casiri. Bibl. Arab. Hist. vol. II. p. 19. Some pretend to 
derive this appellation from the Arabic word Sarrag, or its plural Sar 
rogiv, which means, men on horseback, or cavaliers. 

St We may judge of the ferocity of the Arabs at this time, from a passage 
vf Rasis, an Arabic author, in Casiri, (Bibl. Arab. Hist. vol. ii. p. 322.) 
Muza, in a fit of jealousy, had caused Tarec to be bastinadoed at Tole- 
do, and yet continued to employ him as a general. The caliph, to avenge 
Tarec, caused Muza to be bastinadoed in his turn, when he came to 
Damascus to lay at his royal feet the spoils of all Spain. His son, whom 
he had left governor of Spain, was killed by order of the caliph. Such 
was the fate of the Arabic conquerors of Spain. 

89 The Abbassides took their name from Abbas, the paternal uncle of 
Mahomet, of whom they were descended. The Ommiades were de 
scended from Ommiah, a more distant relation of the prophet. 

SO Don Pelago, the king whom the Spaniards regard as the founder of thii. 
new state, is a personage no less equivocal than the Pharamond of the 
Franks. Isidorus Pagensis, a Spanish author of that time, published 
by Sandoval in his collection in 1634, knew nothing of him. He extols, 
on the contrary, the exploits of Theodemir, whom the Visigoths, ac 
cording to the Arabic authors quoted by Casiri, had chosen as their 
king after the unfortunate death of Roderic. The chronicle of Alphonso 
III., and that of Albayda, which are commonly cited in favor of Don 
Pelago, are both as late as the beginning of the tenth century, and 
relate things so marvellous of this pretended founder of the kingdom 
of Leon, that it is impossible to give credit to them. 

31 This dynasty, after the year 827, effected the conquest of the greater 
part of Sicily from the Greeks ; but they were deprived of it, in 940, 
by the Fatimites, who were succeeded in the following century by the 
Zerides in Africa. (Vide Period IV. under Spam.) 

32 The celebrated Gerbert, born in Auvergne, and afterwards Pope Sil- 
vester II., was among the first that repaired to Spain, about the middle 
of the tenth century, to study mathematics under the Arabs. Numbers 
afterwards imitated his example. 

32 There is preserved in the library of the Escurial in Spain, 1851 Arabic 
MSS. which escaped the conflagration of 1671, and which have been 
amply described by Casiri in his Bibl. Arab. Hisp. 

NOTES TO CHAPTER III Period II. 

1 The immense intrenchments or fortifications of the Avars, called Bhin. 
gos by the Franks, were destroyed by Charlemagne, to the number of 
nine. A part of Pannonia and the teriitory of the Avars he left in pos. 
session of the native chiefs, and the Slavian princes, who acknow. 
ledged themselves his vassals and tributaries. The Slavi, the Moravi. 
ans, and Bulgarians, seem to have then seized on a part of the tefrito- 
ries of the Avars lying beyond the Danube and the Theyss. It was 
on account of this war, that Charlemagne established the Eastern 
March (Austria) against the Avars, and that he conceived also the pro- 
ject of joining the Danube and the Rhine, by a canal drawn from the 
river Altmuhl to Rednitz. 

2 Charles took the oath in the Teutonic language, Louis in the Romance 
language ; the forms of which have been preserved by the Abbe Nitii- 
ard, a cousin of these princes. We may observe, that this is the most 
ancient monument of the Romance language ; out of which has sprung 
the modem French. 



NOTES 725 

3 This treaty, which has been preserved by the atithor of the Annals of 
St. Berlin, mentions all the countries and principal places assigned tw 
each of the brothers. It forms a valuable document in the geography 
of the middle ages. 

4 As an example of this, it is said that a nobleman of Suabia, named Eti- 
chon, brother to the Empress Judith, quarrelled with his own son, and 
refused to see him, because, in his estimation, he had debased himselt 
by receiving as fiefs, from Louis the Gentle, a certain number of his 
own lands, situated in Upper Bavaria. 

5 The Danes and the Swedes dispute with each other the honor of these 
pretended heroes, who signalized themselves in the Norman piracies. 
It is without doubt, that all the tribes of ancient Scandinavia, in their 
turn, took part in these expeditions. According to the Monk, of St. 
Gall, it was not till about the end of the war of Charlemagne with the 
Avars, i. e. 796, that the Normans began to infest the coasts of the 
Prankish empire. In order to stop their incursions, Charles construct- 
ed a fleet, and stationed in the harbors and mouths of rivers, troops and 
guard-ships ; precautions which were neglected by his successors. 

6 The beautiful palaces which Charles had constructed at Nimeguen and 
Aix-la-Chapelle, were burnt to the ground by the Normans in 881-2. 
At the same time, they plundered Liege, Maestricht, Tongres, Cologne, 
Bonn, Zulpich, Nuys, and Treves. 

7 Nester, a monk of Kiovia, and the first annalist of Russia, about the 
end of the eleventh century, says the Russians, whom he calls also 
Waregues, came from Scandinavia, or the country of the Normans. 
He assures us, that it was from them that the state of Novogorod took 
the name of Russia. The author of the annals of St. Bertin, the first 
that mentions the Russians (Ichos) a. d. 839, assigns Sweden as their 
original country. Luitprand also, bishop of Cremona, in the court of 
Constantinople by Otho the Great, attests, in his history, that the 
Greeks gave the name o^ Russians to the people, who in the west are 
called Normans. The Finns, Laplanders, and Estonians, at this day, 
call ti»e Swedes, Roots, Routzi, or Rootslane. It is likely that from 
them, being nearest neighbors of the Swedes, this name passed to the 
Slavonian tribes. Hence it would seem, mat it is in Sweden that we 
must look for Russia, prior to the times of Ruric ; in the same way, 
as ancient France is to be found in Westphalia and Hesse, before the 
days of Clodion, and the founding of the new monarchy of the Franks 
in Gaul. 

8 The Orkney Isles, the Hebrides, the Shetlands, and the Isles of Man, 
passed, in course of time, from the dominion of the Norwegians to 
that of the Scottish kings, while the Faroe Isles remained constantly 
annexed to the kingdom of Norway. 

9 Olaus II., King of Norway, had rendered the Icelanders tributaries, but 
they soon renewed their independence ; and it was not till the time of 
Habo V. and Magnus VII., in 1261 and 1264, that they submitted to the 
dominion of Norway, when the republican government of the island 
was suppressed. Iceland, when a republic, furnished the annalists of 
the north. The most distinguished of these is Snorre Sturleson, 
who wrote a history of the kings of Norway about the begirming of the 
thirteenth century. This celebrated man died in 1241. 

10 The Chazars, a Turkish tribe, ruled, at the time we now speak, over 
the northern part of the Crimea ; as also the vast regions lying to the 
north of the Euxine and Caspian seas. The Onogurs or tJgurs, sup. 
posed to be the same as Hungarians, were subject to them. These 



726 NOTES. 

Chazars having embraced Christianity in the ninth century, aaopted a 
won of syncretism, which admitted all sorts indifferently. Hence the 
name of Chazars or Ketzers has been given, by the Germar divines, to 
every species of heretics. Their power vanished about the beginuin^ 
ol the eleventh century. 
I The Patzinacites or Kanglians, also a Turkish and wandermg tribfl. 
originally inhabited the borders of the Jaik and the Volga, between these 
two rivers. Expelled from these countries by the Uzes or Cumans, 
who combined with the Chazars against them, they attacked the Hunga- 
rians, whom they stript of their possessions, lying between the Tanais. 
the Dnieper, and the Dniester, (a. d. 884.) 
(2 The Moravians were the first of the Slavian tribes that embraced Chris- 
tianity. The Greek Emperor Michael, at their own request, sent them, 
in 863, Cyril and Methodius, two learned Greeks of Thessalonica, who 
invented the Slavonian alphabet, and translated into their language the 
sacred books, which the Russians still use. 

13 The Patzinacites possessed all the countries situated between the Aluta, 
the Dnieper, and the Donez, which near its source, separated them 
from the Chazars. They gradually disappeared from history about the 
end of the eleventh century, when they were dispossessed or subdued 
by the Cumans. 

14 Historians have commonly ascribed to this prince the division of Eng. 
land into counties, hundreds, and tithes, as also the institution of juries. 

15 From the occupation of Greenland and Finland by the Normans, we 
may infer that North America was known to them several centuries 
before it was discovered by the English. 

NOTES TO CHAPTER IV.— Period HI. 

1 The Hungarians having made a new invasion upon Otho the Great, 
advanced as far as Augsburg, to which they laid siege ; but Otho, in a 
battle which he fought with them in the vicinity of that city, (955,) 
routed them with such slaughter that they never dared to return. 

2 On this oath, which was taken in 9G3, the emperors of Germany founded 
the title by which they claimed the right to confirm, or to nominate 
and depose the popes. Lawyers generally allege the famous decree 
of Leo VUL, published 964, as establishing the rights of the emperors 
over Rome and the popes. But the authenticity of this decree has 
been attacked by the ablest critics, and defended by others. It would 
appear that there is no necessity for this to justify these rights. Otho, 
after having conquered Italy and received the submission of the Romans 
and the Pope, could easily claim for himself and his successors the 
same rights of superiority which the Greek and Frank emperors had 
enjoyed before him. 

3 He was the duke of Lower Lorrain, and had obtained that dukedom 
from Otho II. in 977. He transmitted it to his son Otho, who was the 
last prince of the Carlovingian line, and died in 1006. 

4 The principalities of Benevento, Salerno, and Capua, were governed 
by Lombard princes, who held of the German emperors. The duke- 
doms of Naples, Gaeta, Amalfi, and part of Apulia and Calabria, were 
dependent on the eastern emperors ; while tlie Arabs, masters of the 
greater part of Sicily possessed also Bari and Tarento in Apulia. 

5 From this treaty is derived the right of vassalage, which the popes have 
exercised till the present time, over the kingdom of Naples. 

6 The first invasion of the Normans in Sicily was in lOGO. Palermo, the 



NOTES. 727 

capital, fell under their power in 1072, and in 1090 they conquered the 
whole island. 

7 The first seeds of Christianity were planted in Denmark and Sweden, 
by St. Ansgar, whom Louis the Gentle created, in 834, first archbishop 
of Hamburg, and metropolitan of the North. But the progress ol 
Christianity was extremely slow in those semi-barbarous countries- 
The first annalist of the North was an Icelander named Are Frode. 
who flourished about the beginning of the 11th century. The most 
eminent historian of Denmark, was a monk named Swend Aageson. 
who digested, about 1187, an abridgement of the history of that king- 
dom. He was followed by Saxo the grammarian, whose history of 
Denmark, written in beautiful Latin, is full of fables in the times preced- 
ing the 12th century. Norway had for its first annalist a monk named 
Theodoric, who wrote about 1160. As to Sweden, it has no national 
historian anterior to the Chronicles in Verse, the first anonymous editor 
of which lived in the time of King Magnus Smeck, about the middle 
of the 14th century. 

8 Olaus sent, in 996 and 1000, missionaries into Iceland, who succeeded 
in making the whole country adopt Christianity. An Icelandic fugitive, 
named Eric le Roux, discovered Greenland, and formed the first settle- 
ments there, about the year, 982. His son, Lief, embraced Christianity 
during his sojourn in Norway. With the aid of some ecclesiastics 
whom King Olaus gave him, he returned in 1000 to Greenland, and 
there converted his father and his fellow-countrymen. The knowledge 
of the first Norwegian colonies of Greenland, was lost about the begin, 
ning of the fifi;eenth century. The southern and western districts of 
it were again discovered about 1576 ; but it was not till 1721 that the 
Danes formed new settlements there. 

9 The Polabes inhabited the duchy of Lauenburg, the principality of Rat- 
zenburg, and the province of Schwerin. The Wagrians were settled 
beyond the Bille in the Wagria, in the principality of Eutin, and a part 
of Holstein. 

. Henry, Duke of Saxony, Conrad, Duke of Zahringen, and Albert, 
Margrave of the North, headed an army of these crusaders against the 
Slavi in 1147. 

11 The right of hereditary succession in the eldest son of every ducal 
family, was not introduced into Bohemia till 1055. This was the ancient 
usage in Sweden, Denmark, Poland, Russia, and Hungary. 

12 No writer of this nation is known anterior to the thirteenth century. 
The most ancient is Vincent Kadlubeck. bishop of Cracow, who died 
1223. He wrote Historia Polonia, first published in 1612. 

13 This crown, singularly revered in Hungary, contains Greek ornaments 
and inscriptions, which give us to imderstand that it was manufactured 
at Constantinople. There is a probability that it was furnished by the 
Empress Theophania, mother of Otho III., to Pope Sylvester II., whom 
she had lately raised to the pontificate. 

14 The Greeks upbraided the Latins with fasting on Saturdays — permission 
to eat cheese, butter, and milk, during the first week of lent — the celi- 
bacy of their priests — the repetition of the unction, of baptism in confir- 
mation — the corrupting of the confession of faith — the use of unleavened 
bread in the eucharist — permission to eat the blood of animals strangled 
— and the prohibition against the priests wearing their beards. 

15 The difference of rank and pre-eminence of these two patriarchs, be- 
came one of the principal subjects of dispute between the two churches. 
There was a warm debate as to the title of Ecumenical Patriarch, or 



728 NOTES. 

universal bishop, which the patriarchs of Constantinople had assumed 
since the time of the patriarch John 11. in 618. The Roman pontiffs, 
Pelagius II. and Gregory I., haughtily condemned that title as proud 
and extravagant. They even went so far as to interdict all communion 
with the patriarchs of Constantinople ; and Gregory I., wishing to give 
these patriarchs an example of Christian humility, in opposition to this 
lofty title of Universal Bishop, adopted that of Servant of the servants 
of God. 

16 The Bulgarians, newly converted to Christianity by Greek and Latin 
missionaries, had priests and bishops of both churches ; and each pon- 
tiff claimed the sole jurisdiction over that province. This affair having 
been referred by the Bulgarians themselves to the judgment of the 
Greek Emperor, he decided in favor of the See of Constantinople. In 
consequence of this decision, the Latin bishops and priests were expelled 
from Bulgaria, and replaced by the Greeks in 870. 

17 This terrible fire, reckoned among their state secrets, was exploded 
from tubes of copper, or thro\vn with cross-bows and machines for the 
purpose. Fire-ships were likewise filled with them, which they des- 
patched among the enemies' ships to burn them. These could not be 
extinguished by water, or any other way than by the help of vinegar or 
sand. 

18 The name of Tartar, in the sense in which it is commonly taken, ap 
pears to be of a Chinese origin. The Chinese pronounce it Tha.tha ; 
and designate, by this name, all the nations that dwell north of the 
great wall. 

19 The first that employed this military guard was the Caliph Montassem, 
who succeeded to the caliphate in 833 or 218 of the Hegira. 

20 Sultan or Solthan, is a common name in the Chaldean and Arabic Ian. 
guages, to designate a sovereign, ruler, king, or master. 

21 Syria was conquered by the Seljukides, between 1074 euid 1085. They 
were masters of Palestine since 1075, which they had conquered from 
the Fatimite caliphs of Egypt. 

22 The most powerful of these Emirs dared not assume the title of Sultan, 
but were content with that of Atabek, which signifies in the Turkish 
language. Father of the prince. 

NOTES TO CHAPTER V.— Period IV. 

1 He was the first of the Roman Pontiffs that assumed the title of Pope, 
(Papa,) to the exclusion of the other bishops and prelates who had for- 
merly made use of that denomination. 

2 Pope Urban II., one of the immediate successors of Gregory VII., went 
so far as to recommend to all secular princes, that they should make 
slaves of such of the priest's wives as lived with their husbands after 
they had received holy orders. In Denmark and Sweden, the celi- 
bacy of the clergy was not introduced till near the middle of the 13th 
century. 

3 Pope Nicholas I. and Adrian II., in the 9th century, and .John IV. and 
Gregory V., about the end of the 10th, appealed to the False Decretals 
in their disputes with the kings of France, on the subject of supremacy 
and legislative power over the whole church. 

4 This house which succeeded the Salic dynasty, occupied the throne of 
the empire trom 1138 to 1254. 

5 Gregory VII. in 1080, conhrmed the election of the Anti-Emperor Ro- 
dolph. Innocent III., claimed the right to arbitrate in the disputes 



NOTES. 729 

between Philip of Swabia and Otho of Brunswick (1198,) on the subject 
of their election. The contested election of Richard de Cornwall and 
Alphonso of Castille to the throne of Spain, was submitted to the judg- 
ment of the Pope. 

6 The Popes derived their claims to these estates, from a donation of 
them, which the Countess had made in 1077, to Pope Gregory VII. , 
and which she renewed in 1102 to Pascal II. 

7 The Order of St. Anthony was founded about 1095 ; and that of Ghar- 
treux was founded in 1080 — 86, by Bruno of Cologne • and that of 
Grandmont, by Stephen de Thiers, a native of Auvergne. 

8 The Arabs took possession of Palestine under the Caliph Omar, a. d. 
657. It fell into the hands of the Fatimite Caliphs of Egypt, a. d. 968 

9-10 There is an amusing description of the crusaders in the Chronicle 
of Conradus Urspergensis, and the sensation wliich their first appear, 
ance made in Germany. 

11 One of these first divisions was conducted by Peter the Hermit in 
person. A contemporary author gives the following description of 
that ghostly general. " His appearance was rude in the extreme, of 
a short stature but of a most fervid zeal. His face was meagre, hi» 
feet bare, and his dress of the meanest and the most squalid sort. On 
his journey, and wherever he went, he used neither horse, mare, 
nor mule ; but only a vehicle drawn by asses." Peter intrusted a part 
of his army to a French gentleman named Walter the Pennyless, who 
marched before him. A numerous body commanded by a German 
priest followed him. Nearly the whole of them perished to the amount 
of 200,000 men. 

12 The republic of Venice having refused, in spite of the thundering 
bulls launched against them, to surrender up the city of Ferrara, Pope 
Clemont IV. published a crusade against them 1309, and thus compelled 
them to sue for peace. 

13 There were properly no armorial bearings before the 12th century. We 
do not meet with the Fleurs-de-lis on the crown or the robe of the French 
kings, until the time of Louis VII., a. d. 1164. 

14 The crusades were the means of spreading leprosy in Europe, as also 
the plague, which in 1347 and the following years made dreadful havoc. 
From Italy it spread over all Europe, and occasioned a violent perse-- 
cution against the Jews. 

15 For these, see the accounts of Spain, Italy, Portugal. 

16 This is the common opinion as to the origin of the Hanseatic League, 
although Sartorius disputes it. The word Hanse, in Low German, 
means any association or corporation. We find this word used, for the 
first time, in a letter which Edward II. of England wrote in 1315, to 
the King of France, in favor of the Germanic merchants. 

17 The parliament of 1342 is generally cited as the first in which we find 
the division into two houses. 

18 Hence the names of Pfaghlhurger and Ussburger, i. e. burgess within 
the precincts, and without the city. 

19 It should be observed, however, that the Roman Law, and especially 
the Theodosian Code, still remained in Italy to a certain extent, even 
in the midst of the darkness that covered Europe prior to the 12th 
century. 

20 In the TViice of God, challenges or duels were prohibited on Thurs- 
days, Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays, under pain of excommunica- 
tion. They were also forbidden between Septuagessima Sunday and 
Easter Week, and between Advent Sunday and Epiphany. 



730 



NOTES. 



25 



26 



28 
29 



21 Hugolinus, a famous lawyer, under Frederic I. is generally regarded 
as the first that digested the Two Books of Fiefs, at the end of the 
Corpus Juris. 

22 Several other universities were founded in the following century : — 
such as that of Prague, in 1347 ; Vienna, in 1365 ; Heidelburg, in 1386 ; 
Cologne, in 1389 ; Erfurt, in 1389, &c. 

23 This Confederation of the Rhine was originally concluded between the 
cities of Mayence, Cologne, Worms, Spire, Strasburg, and Berlin, foi 
the protection of their commerce on the Rhinfi. 

24 These grand officers were seven in number, although formerly other 
princes were admitted to these elections. 

There appears some reason to doubt this statement of Dandolo, the 
historian of Venice. 

After the downfall of the Roman empire in he 5th century, Corsica 
was conquered in turn by the Vandals, Gre< ks, Franks, and Arabs. 
The latter settled there in the 9th century, and were expelled in the 
11th. Sardinia experienced nearly the same revolution as Corsica. It 
fell successively into the hands of the Vandals, Greeks, Arabs, Geno- 
ese, and Pisans. Pope Boniface VIII. vested the King of Arragon in 
Sardinia in 1297, as his vassal and tributary, who expelled the Pisans 
in 1324—26. 

27 The famous Castilian hero Don Rodrigo Diaz de Vivar, surnamed the 
Cid, had already seized the kingdom of Valencia, about the end of the 
11th century; but the Arabs took possession of it after his death 1099. 
De Guignes fixes the entire destruction of the Almohades in the year 
1296. 

After the defeat of the Mahometans, Alfonso having assembled the 
bishops, declared on his oath that Jesus Christ appeared to him on the 
evening before the battle, promised him certain victory, and ordered 
him to be proclaimed king of the field of battle, and to take for his 
arms the five wounds inflicted on his body, and the thirty pieces of silver 
for which he was sold to the Jews. 

The first six of these were the ancient lay peers of the crown. They 
were established in the reigns of Louis VII. and IX., as well as six 
ecclesiastical peers. 

The states of Germany, in order to preserve the feudal system, passed 
a law, which forbade the princes to leave the grand fiefs of the empire 
vacant more than a year. 

32 By the definitive peace concluded at Paris, in 1259, between Louis IX., 
and Henry III., Normandy, Lorraine, Maine Anjou, and Poitou, were 
ceded to France, who then surrendered to England Limousin, Peri- 
gord, Quercy, &,c., on condition of doing fealty and homiige to the 
kings of France, and to be held under the title of the Duke of Aqui- 
taine and peer of France. 

33 The first origin of the inquisition may be dated from a commission of 
inquisitors in 1212, which Innocent III. established at Toulouce against 
the Albigenses. Gregory IX. intrusted the inquisition to the Domini, 
cans, who erected it into an ordinary tribunal, before which they cued 
not only those suspected of heresy, but all who were accused of sor- 
cery, magic, witchcraft, Judaism, &c. 

i4 Dominico, sub-prior of the church of Osma in Spain, conjointly with 
Diego d'Azebez, the bishop of that church, undertook, in 1206, the mission 
against the heretics in Languedoc. Innocent VIII. in 1208, established 
a perpetual commission of preachers for that country, of which Dominico 
was declared chief. Hence the origin of the order of Preaching Friars. 



30 



31 



i 



NOTES. 73 1 

H5 The Irish were converted to Christianity in the 5th century. St. Patrick 
was their first apostle ; he founded the archbishopric of Armagh in 472. 
The supremacy of the Pope was not acknowledged in that island till the 
council of Drogheda, 1152, when the Pope's pallium, and the celibacy 
of the priests, were introduced. 

36 In Denmark, the throne was elective in the reigning family. It was 
equally so in Norway, where, by a strange custom, natural sons were 
admitted to the crown, and allowed the privilege of attesting their 
descent from the royal line by the ordeal of fire. 

37 The power of the clergy in the North was considerably increased by 
the introduction of Metropolitans. The archbishopric of Lunden was 
erected in 1152, and that of Upsal in 1163. 

38 The introduction of tithes met with great opposition in all the North ; 
nor were they generally received till near the end of the 13th century. 
Canute IV. was put to death in Denmark, principally for having attempt- 
ed to introduce tithes. 

39 Except Sigurd I., King of Norway, who undertook a crusade to the 
Holy Land, 1107, at the head of an army of 10,000 men, and a fleet 
of 60 sail. 

40 Tacitus, and the writers of the middle ages, before the 10th century, 
8eem to have included the Prussians, and the people inhabiting the 
coasts of the Baltic eastward of the Vistula, under the name of Lstho- 
nians. 

41 It is alleged this city took its name from Ottokar II., King of Bohe- 
mia, who headed an army of crusaders, and encouraged the building 
of it. 

42 In the Mogul language, Zin or Tgin, signifies Great, and Kis, very : 
so that the word means Most Great Khan or Emperor. According to 
others who quote the constant tradition of the Moguls, this new name 
was taken from the cry of an extraordinary and divine bird, which sat 
on the tree during the assembly in question, and uttered the word 
Tschingkis. This name was adopted as a special and favorable augury 
from heaven, and applied to the new conqueror. 

43 The Igours were dependent on this latter empire, a Turkish people to 
the north-west of China. It is alleged that they cultivated the arts and 
sciences ; and communicated letters and the alphabet to the other 
Turkish and Mogul tribes. 

44 the former of these events took place in 1279, and the latter in 1243. 
The Caliphs of Bagdad were annihilated by the Moguls, under the reign 
of Mangou Khan, a. d. 1258. 

45 It is related that the Emperor Frederic II., when summoned by the 
Great Khan to submit, and offered an office of high trust at his court, 
replied to his singular message by way of pleasantry, that he knew 
enough of fowling to qualify him for grand falconer. 

46 The dynasty of the Moguls in Persia ended in 1410 ; that of the Zagatai 
fell into the hands of the usurpers in the 14th century. This dynasty 
p.roduced the famous Timour. 

47 Batou Khan was in the habit of ascending the Wolga, with his whole 
tribe, from January till August, when he began to descend that river 
in his way to the south. 

48 Horde, in the Chinese or Tartar language, means a tent or dwellmg. 
place. 

49 These tribes dwelt to the north of the Caspian Sea, between the Jaik, 
the Wolga, and the Tanais. 

53 Thi Moguls of Kipzac, who ruled over Russia, are known rather by 



732 



NOTES. 



the name of Tartars than Moguls, as they adopted by degrees, the Ian. 
guage and manners of the Tartars among whom they lived. 

51 An author who wrote in the twelfth century, remarks, that the Hun- 
garians still lived in tents, in summer and autumn ; the few houses in 
tiiat kingdom were built of wood or of stone ; that the grandees, when 
they went to court, brought their seats or chairs with them ; and that 
the same thing was practised by those who went to visit their neigh- 
bors in winter. 

52 The invasion of Dalmatia became a source of troubles and wars be- 
tween the kings of Hungary and the republic of Vienna ; and it was 
not till the fifteenth century that the Venetians succeeded in getting 
possession of the maritime towns of Dalmatia. 

53 The Cumans established one of their colonies in a part of ancient 
Dacia, now Moldavia and Wallachia, which took from them the name 
of Cumania. 

54 Baldwin was succeeded by his brother Henry ; and he by his brother- 
in-law, Pierre de Courtenay, grandson of Louis VI. of France. That 
prince left two sons, Robert and Baldwin, who both reigned at Con- 
stantinople, and were the last of the Latin emperors. 

55 They took the name of Baharites, which in Arabic signifies maritimes 
or dwellers near the sea. 



I 



NOTES TO CHAPTER VL— Period V. 

This jubilee, which, according to the bull of Boniface VHL, was to 
be celebrated only once in a hundred years, was reduced to fifty by 
Clement VL, to thirty by Urban VL, and twenty-five by Paul H., and 
Sextus IV. 

Martin V., Nicholas V., and Calixtus II., gave to the Portuguese all the 
territories which they might discover, from the Canaries to the Indies. 
Adrian IV., who adjudged Ireland to Henry II. in 1155, had claimed 
that all islands in which Christianity was introduced, should belong to 
St. Peter. 

The kings of France maintained the exercise of that right in spite of 
the efforts which the court of Rome made to deprive them of it. 
The King even sent to Italy the Chevalier William Nogart with a body 
of troops, who surprised the Pope at Anagni, made him prisoner, and 
pillaged his treasures, as well as those of the cardinals in his suit. 
If we can believe an Arabic author from Mecca, of the thirteenth cen- 
tury, paper, of cotton most probably, was invented at Mecca by one 
Joseph Amru, about the year 706. According to others, the Arabs 
found an excellent paper manufactory at Samarcand, when they con. 
quered that country in 704. The invention of paper among the Chinese 
is very ancient. 

M. de Mechel mentions three pictures in the gallery of Vienna, one 
of the year 1297, and the other two of 1357, as having been painted in 
oil colors on wood. 

The first cards were painted and designed, which rendered them very 
dear. Great variety of cards are found among different nations. Piquet 
became the national game of the French, taroc of the Italians ; the 
Spaniards invented ombre and quadrille, and the Germans lansquenet. 
I One of the oldest of these folios is that found in the library of Buxheim, 
near Meningen. It represents the image of St. Christopher illumed, 
with a legend, dated 1423. Printing, by blocks of wood, was practised 
in China since the year 9.50. 



NOTES. 



733 



9 Gutenberg, who still kept his art a secret) on the death of Drizhen, 
sent different persons into his house, and charged them to unscrew the 
press, and take it to pieces, that no one might discover how or in whm 
he was employed. 

10 Schceflin dates the invention of the font about the year 1452. The 
honor of it is commonly ascribed to Peter Schceffer, the companion of 
Faust. 

11 In a deed made by Gutenburg and his brother in 1459, he took a for- 
mal engagement to give to the library of the convent of St. Claire, at 
Mayence, the books which he had already printed, or might print ; 
which proves that Gutenburg had printed books long before 1459. ana 
that he still intended to print. 

12 According to Casiri, there can be no doubt as to the existence of can 
non among the Moors in the years 1342 — 44. The first undoubted 
proof of the employment of cannon in France, is of the year 1345. 
The Genoese, it is alleged, employed mines for the first time at the 
siege of Seranessa, against the Florentines, in 1487 ; and the Spaniard* 
against the French at the siege of the castle of Oeuf, in 1503. 

13 The first cannons were constructed of wood, iron, or lead. Gustavus 
Adolphus used cannons made of leather. They could not support near 
the quantity of powder of those in modem times. 

14 Guiot de Provins, who wrote a satirical poem called the Bible, about 
the end of the 12th century, speaks most distinctly of the mariner's 
compass, which was used in his time in navigation. 

15 The herring fisheries on the coast of Scania, in the 14th and 15th cen. 
turies, proved a mine of wealth for the Hanseatic trade ; so much the 
more gainful, as all Europe then observed lent. 

16 William Tell is commonly regarded as the first founder of the Swiss 
liberty. 

17 The Grand Duke Michael Joroslawitz was executed by the Horde in 
1318. Demetrius Michaelovitz met with the same fate in 1326. — ■ 
The Russian princes, on going to an audience with the Khan, were 
obliged to walk between two fires to purify themselves and the presents 
which they brought. They were even compelled to do reverence to 
an image which was placed at the entrance of the Khan's tent. 

18 The first mention which the annals of Nestor make of the Livonians, 
and their wars with the Russians, is about the year 1040. 

19 Various contracts were made before that sale was accomplished. The 
first was in 1341, and the price was 13,000 marks of silver. In 1346, 
the Margrave Louis sold his rights over Esthonia to the Teutonic Order 
for 6000 marks. 

20 Livonia did not belong exclusively to the Teutonic Order at this time. 
The archbishop of Riga was independent, and master of the city where 
he resided. 

21 Before Uladislaus, there were only some of the sovereigns of Poland 
invested with the royal dignity ; and the tradition which carries back 
the uninterrupted succession of the Polish kings to Bolislaus, in the 
year 1000, is contrary to the evidence of history. 

22 The conversion of the Lithuanians to Christianity was resolved on in a 
general assembly of the nation held in 1387. It consisted simply of 
the ceremony of baptism. The Polish priests who were employed on 
this mission, being ignorant of the Lithuanian language. King Jagellofi 
became himself a preacher. One custom which he practised, succeeded 
better than all the force of reasoning or argument. The Lithuanians, 
till then, had iwed only clothes of ."ikin." or linpn The King cau?ed 



734 



NOTES. 



woollen dresses, of which he had ordered a large quantity to be imported 
from Poland, to be distributed to all those who were baptized. Thou 
sands ot the Lithuanians then flocked to the administration of that rite. 
The Samogitians embraced Christianity about the 13th century. 

23 The Wallachians, as their language proves, are a mixture of the descend, 
ants of the Roman colonies of ancient Dacia, with the Slavians ano 
Goths. They adhered to the Greek church in the ninth century. 

24 Philip Callimacus, the historian of Uladislaus, was descended of an 
illustrious family in Tuscany, and one of those fine geniuses which 
Italy produced in the fifteenth century. Being persecuted at Rome, he 
retired to Poland to Casimir IV., who intrusted him with the education 
of his children, and made him his secretary. 

25 The conquest of Indostan by Timour is fixed to the years 1398, 1399. 
His dearest trophies were huge towers, formed of the heads which he 
had cut from his enemies. He raised 120 of these after the taking of 
Bagdad in 1401. 

26 In the short space of six or seven hours, the Turks had cleared the 
city entirely of all its inhabitants. 

NOTES TO CHAPTER VII.— Period VI. 

1 Las Casas is generally reproacned for having advised the employing o{ 
African slaves in the Antilles, instead of the natives, while he was 
zealously supporting the liberty of the Americans ; and that it was by 
his advice that Charles V., in 1517, authorised the Belgian merchants 
to import 14,000 Africans into these islands, which gave rise to the treaty 
on the slave trade. 

2 The kings of Portugal had already obtained similar commissions for 
their discoveries in the east, from Pope Nicholas V., Calixtus III., and 
Sextus IV. 

3 The Philippine Isles, discovered by Magellan in 1521, were occupied 
by the Spaniards in 1564. After several fruitless attempts to find a 
north-east or north-west passage, the English doubled the Cape of Good 
Hope before the end of the IGtli century. 

4 Magellan, in his voyage, discovered a new route to India by the straits, 
to which he gave his name. The Moluccas and the Pliilippines were 
then visited by him. He was killed in the Isle of Matan, one of the 
Philip.nnes, April 27, 1521. 

5 Henry IV. conceived the project, and concerted with Elizabeth of 
England, for securing the equilibrium and the peace of the continent, 
by humbling Austia. 

6 The assassin was call-ed Balthazar Gerardi. He is said to have bought 
the pistols, with which he committed the deed, witii the money which 
the prince had given him a few days before. 

7 The first alliance of the Swiss with France was in 1453. It was 
renewed in 1474 and 1480. In virtue of tliis latter treaty, the Swiss 
engaged to furnish for that prince a body ol (JOUO auxiliatles, the first 
regular Swiss troops that had been received into the service of France, 
with consent of the confederation. 

8 That war was terminated in 1603, a little before the death of Elizabeth. 



NOTES TO CHAPTER VIII.— Period VII 

I The first of these medals represented the United Provinces under the 
figure of a woman trampling Discord, with an inscription a little haughty, 



NOTES. 735 

but by no means outrageous for France. The other medal was more 
piquant ; it offered the crown of France to M. Van Beuningen, the 
ambassador of Holland, under the figure of Joshua, who commanded 
the sun to stand still. 

2 This bull, the source of many theological disputes, was issued in 1713, 
in which Clement XI. condemned a hundred and one propositions, 
extracted from the New Testament, as false, and infected with the 
errors of .Tansenism. 

3 In 1713. In this same year was concluded the famous treaty of Meth- 
ven, by which Portugal engaged to receive English woollen cloths, on 
condition that England would admit the wines of Portugal at one-third 
less duty than those of France. 

4 The national liberty gained under Charles II. by the famous Habeas 
Corpus Act, passed in 1679. 

NOTES TO CHAPTER IX.— Period VIII. 

1 Among the means which the regent employed for clearing off the 
debts of the state, which amounted to three millions, one was the 
famous scheme of Law, a Scotchman, and the establishment of a 
bank, which completely failed after having great success, and ruined a 
number of families. 

2 Alberoni, a man of vast and enterprising genius, was at first only a 
simple priest in a village near Parma. He insinuated himself into the 
favor of the Duke of Vendome, when he commanded the French army 
in Italy. The Duke took him to Spain, and recommended him to the 
Princess des Ursius who was then all powerful at tlie court of Philip V. 
There he was elevated to the rank of cardinal and prime minister. 

3 This famous adventurer was descended of a noble famiiy in the pro- 
vince of Groningen, In 1715, he was appointed ambassador for Hol- 
land at the court of Madrid. There he insinuated himself into favor 
with Philip v., who sent him, in 1724, to the court of Vienna, to treat 
with the Emperor Charles V. On his return, he was raised to the 
rank of duke and prime minister of Spain. Being disgraced for his 
imprudences, he was imprisoned in the Castle of Segovia, whence he 
made his escape in 1728, and after wandering over several countries, 
he passed to Morocco, where it is alleged he became a Mahometan, as 
he turned Catholic at Madrid. Being obliged to quit that new retreat 
he repaired to Tetuan, where he died. 

4 The trade which the EJnglish carried on in Spanish America, in virtue 
of the Assiento, having given opppotunities for contraband, it was agreed 
by a subsequent convention, signed at Madrid in 1750, between these 
two courts, that England should entirely renounce that contract in con. 
sideration of a sum of JC100,000 sterling, which Spain promised to pay 
the English company engaged in that trade. 

5 On the death of Joseph I. in 1777, and the accession of his daughter 
Mary, the grandees of Portugal avenged themselves for the indignities 
which the Marquis de Pombal had subjected them to. 

6 The principal actions which took place between the French and the 
Hanoverians, with their allies, were those of Hastenbeck in 1757 
Crevelt, 1758 ; Bergen and Minden, 1759 ; Clostercamp, 1760 ; Villing. 
hausen, 1761 ; Grebenstein, 1762. 

7 The battles fought by the King of Prussia in that war were the follow- 
ing : that of Lowositz in 1756 ; Prague, Kolin, Jagerndoff, Rosbach, 
Breslau and f.issa, 1757 ; ZorndorfT and i?ocAA:jVcAen, 1758; Zullichan 



> ■ rit. 



736 NOTES. 

and Kunnertdorff, or Frankfort on the Oder, 1759 ; Liegnitz and Tor- 
gau, 1760 ; Fryburg, 1762. The King gained them all except thoae 
marked in italics. 

8 New differences having arisen between Spain and Portugal in Brazil, 
which occasioned hostilities, a treaty of peace, concluded March 24, 
1778, put an end to these differences, and finally regulated the limits 
between the two nations in America. 

9 This prince perished at the siege of Seringapatam, his capital, which 
the English took in 1799. 

10 It appears by the overtures which the Empress of Russia made to the 
Kmg of Poland in 1771, 1775, that she was averse to the partition of 
Poland, which, in effect, appeared to be in apposition to the true inte- 
rests of Russia. 

11 The Austrian division A'as estimated at about 1300 German square 
miles, with 700,000 inhabitants. 

12 These countries were estimated at 4157 square miles, with 3,050,000 
inhabitants. 

13 The portion of the King of Prussia comprised 1061 square miles, with 
1,150,000 inhabitants. It contained 262 cities, and 8274 villages. 

H It was in this revolution that Counts Struensee and Brandt were axe- 
cuted — the former being prime minister of Sweden. Yox the lives of 
these two persons, see Converts from Infidelity, Vol. II., by the trans, 
lator of this work. 

CHAPTER IX. 

1 The first act of the Confederation is dated Oct. 4. 1776. It then com- 
prehended only eleven states. South Carolina and Maryland were not 
included till 1781. 



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